A GAZETTE & Reporter article on Victoria Cross holder Pte Henry Ward attracted the interest of Gordon Baker, of Twyning, who has pointed to another local VC winner.

Mr Baker's interest in the winners of Britain's highest military decoration led him to St Mary's churchyard at Kempsey and the grave of Major General Edward William Derrington Bell, VC KCB.

From a military family, Bell served with the 23rd Regiment, later The Royal Welch Fusiliers, and won the Victoria Cross at the age of 30 on September 20, 1854, during the Crimean War.

At the Battle of Alma, Captain Bell captured an enemy gun which was limbered up and being carried away. He also brought his regiment back into action after fellow officers were killed or wounded.

He was presented with his medal by Queen Victoria at Southsea Common, Hants, on August 2, 1858.

Bell went on to hold the rank of Major General before his death in Belfast in 1879. He was buried in the family plot at Kempsey, alongside his father General Wells Bell and mother, Mary Ann.

The medal - and the captured gun - is on display at the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum at Caernarfon Castle, Gwynedd.

Mr Baker is concerned about the state of the headstone, the inscription having faded very badly through weathering.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission only looks after post-1914 graves and although the regiment has had it cleaned, it cannot maintain private graves and did not have the funds to recut the lettering.