War hero is honoured 100 years after death
He miraculously escaped death after volunteering to cover his patrol's withdrawal during a relentless attack from enemy snipers near Ypres in Belgium.
Alone, Thomas Barratt stayed and fired back, killing at least six Germans and injuring many before making it safely back to his own lines, despite coming under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire.
Then cruelly, he was killed by a stray shell, described as 'a million to one chance' by his cousin Mandy Caddick in a eulogy to her valiant relative, who was just 22, in a special dedication ceremony on the 100th anniversary of his death.
More than 200 people observed a two-minute silence in remembrance of Coseley-born Private Barratt at the unveiling of a commemorative stone beside the town war memorial at the junction of Birmingham New Road and Vicarage Road.
His courage in battle earned him the Victoria Cross, normally on display at the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, near Lichfield, but exhibited at the service on a ceremonial cushion along with his other medals.
Words of high praise from his divisional commander were read out at the gathering: "I know of no award of the Victoria Cross more richly merited. Amongst the records of stirring deeds, this stands out second to none."
A tribute in the London Gazette following his death on July 27, 1917, said: "His splendid example of coolness and daring was beyond all praise."
Dudley mayor Councillor Dave Tyler laid a wreath on behalf of 'a grateful community'. Mrs Caddick, 45, of Coseley, and Private Barratt's great nephew David Cooper, 60, of Penn, also placed a poppy tribute. The Royal British Legion and the Wolverhampton branch of the Western Front Association were among others who laid wreaths.
Thomas Barratt was born on May 5, 1895, in Foundry Street, Darkhouse, Coseley, one of five children born to James and Sarah Ann Barratt. He was six years old when his mother died aged 33, and he ended up in the workhouse. He ran away to live with his grandmother after his father, following 'an attack of paralysis' became an inmate of Dudley Workhouse Infirmary.
Despite this difficult start in life, he attended Darkhouse Baptist Chapel and Church Day School, leaving at 15 for a job at Cannon Iron Foundry and later Thompson Brothers, Lower Bradley, Bilston.
He volunteered to fight in 1914, shortly after the start of the Great War, and sailed with the 7th South Staffordshires to Gallipoli. His battalion saw action in France, including the Somme in 1916, before moving further along the Western Front to Belgium, where he was killed. He is buried less than a mile away at Essex Farm Cemetery at Boesinghe, near Ypres.
He was known as a 'crack shot', with one newspaper report claiming he shot not just six but 18 Germans on the day he died.
In a letter to Private Barratt's grandmother, his platoon officer said that his 'splendid' shooting had saved his platoon from being surrounded.
Among the many ex-servicemen at the ceremony, which was led by Reverend Emma Stanford, of Christ Church Coseley, was Second World War veteran 93-year-old Jim Aston, of Gornal.
He said: "A service like this brings back memories. I was 19 when I joined up and I lost my best friend who was killed in the fighting. I'm pleased to be here and pay my respects to a hero like Thomas Barratt."
