ONE of Oxfordshire's greatest military heroes will have a memorial stone unveiled in the village he was born in on the 100th anniversary of his finest hour.

Edward Brooks, one of just two Oxfordshire soldiers to have been awarded the Victoria Cross, will be commemorated with a stone tribute in his home village of Oakley in Buckinghamshire next year.

Oakley Parish Council has arranged the ceremony with the support of the Department of Communities and Local Government to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.

Edward Brooks, born in Oxford Road, Oakley, on April 11, 1883, moved to Headington, Oxford, shortly before the First World War.

He earned his Victoria Cross while serving as a Sergeant Major with the 2/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in France.

On April 28, 1917, at Fayet near Saint-Quentin, he single-handedly killed two German gunners, captured their machine gun and turned it on the enemy.

Next year – on Friday, April 28 – Oakley Parish Council will unveil the commemorative stone at the foot of the village's war memorial at St Mary's Church, Oakley, exactly 100 years to the day since Sgt Maj Brooks earned his honour.

The stone will bear his name, rank and regiment along with the date of his courageous actions.

Parish council chairman John Mole said: "This will be a large event for a small village like ours and we are involving the whole community as well as the relatives of Mr Brooks, some of whom live in Oxfordshire.

"It will be a proud day for the village and family."

The ceremony will include a march past by the Rifles Regiment, who will also provide a band, and the council is planning to create an exhibition for the event focusing on Sgt Maj Brooks and the 23 men of Oakley who, unlike him, did not return from the war.

The council has also sent invitations to the mayor of Fayet, Oxfordshire Remembers and the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock.

Among those present will be Sgt Maj Brooks' grandson Edward Brooks, from Horspath near Oxford.

The 69-year-old said he was glad that his grandfather was being honoured, whether it was in Oxfordshire or Buckinghamshire.

Mr Brooks said: "In a way, because he was born there, that is where it should go.

"It means a lot to me whether it is in Oxford or Oakley, the main thing is that it is being done: that is more than he deserves, just like all the rest of the war veterans."

Mr Brooks will also be taking to the ceremony a pocket watch gifted to his grandfather by the village of Oakley with the engraving: "For receiving the VC, from Oakley friends".

In October, soldiers from Edward Brooks barracks in Abingdon unveiled a new black granite memorial at his grave in Rose Hill Cemetery, Oxford, paid for by Mr Brooks.