DOZENS watched in silence as 12-year-old James Chavasse lay a wreath to honour is great, great uncle, one of this county's greatest ever war heroes.

James, who goes to Wheatley Park School, today honoured the life of Captain Noel Chavasse, the only man to win the Victoria Cross twice in the First World War.

James and 32 other members of the Chavasse family were joined by the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire and the Master of St Peter's College Oxford to unveil a commemorative paving stone in front of the college in New Inn Hall Street, Oxford, where Cpt Chavasse was baptised.

Oxford Mail:

The date marked 100 years to do the day since Cpt Chavasse earned his first VCs, rescuing the wounded from the battlefields of the Somme under heavy fire.

He saved the lives of 20 men.

James, who whose father Peter is Cpt Chavasse's great nephew, said: "I was a bit nervous – I wasn't expecting that many people.

"But it was also quite special to think everyone was watching.

"I know quite a lot about Cpt Chavasse, we talk about the story sometimes, and it is very special to think that just two other people in the world have ever done what he's done and earned two VCs."

Oxford Mail:

James is also in Wheatley army cadets, and said when he goes on camps he frequently gets asked if he is related to the famous Cpt Noel Chavasse.

His father Peter added: "It was a really moving ceremony.

"It was lovely that so many people turned up, and the paving stone is an absolutely magnificent piece.

"I hope that people who see it might stop and think about what Cpt Chavasse did."

Born at 36 New Inn Hall Street on November 9, 1884, Noel Chavasse was baptised in the church of St Peter-le-Bailey – now the chapel of St Peter's College.

Educated at Magdalen College School and later Trinity College, Oxford, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in the summer of 1914 and was attached to the Liverpool Scottish Regiment, with whom he went to France in November that year.

He won his first Victoria Cross at Guillemont on August 9, 1916. The second cost him his life.

On August 2, 1917, during the Battle of Passchendaele, his bunker was hit by a shell.

Oxford Mail:

Almost everyone he was with was killed instantly, and he was badly wounded, but despite that he spent the next two days searching for the wounded while under heavy fire, and saved the lives of many men.

He died from his own wounds at the end of the two days, and was awarded his second VC posthumously.

Peter Chavasse's mother Mary Chavasse said Cpt Chavasse was a "wonderful person".

The 82-year-old of Hayward Road, North Oxford, whose late husband John was Cpt Chavasse's nephew, said: "He was a very brave man, and I think it is important for the rest of the city to realise what a wonderful person he was."