THE First World War saw hundreds of Gwent men decorated for bravery. By their very nature, these awards are for extraordinary acts of bravery, but there are some acts which stand out even from these.

JOHN Henry Williams began working as a blacksmith at Cwm Colliery when he was 12 with the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company. Steely in civilian life, so to in the military as he became the most decorated non-commissioned officer in Welsh history.

His first award was earned during the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, when with the 38th (Welsh) Division he was clearing Mametz Wood, for which he was later awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for “conspicuous gallantry in action”.

A year later, Williams, by now Company Sergeant Major was at Pilckem Ridge during the Battle of Passchendaele, the third battle of Ypres. Still with the 38th Division he was awarded the Military Medal for the bravery he showed in capturing a ridge.

Later that year Williams again ran towards danger when, at Armentieres on October 30, 1917, he braved bullets and shrapnel to bring in a wounded comrade. For this, he had a Bar added to his Military Medal. There was one further outstanding episode which would earn him greater honour. His citation tells how he earned his Victoria Cross:

"For most conspicuous bravery, initiative and devotion to duty on the night of 7th - 8th October 1918, during the attack on Villers Outreaux, when, observing that his company was suffering heavy casualties from an enemy machine gun, he ordered a Lewis Gun to engage it, and went forward, under heavy fire, to the flank of the enemy post which he rushed single handed, capturing fifteen of the enemy.”

The prisoners, realising that Williams was alone, turned on him and one of them gripped his rifle. He succeeded in breaking away and bayoneted five of the enemy, and the surviving Germans again surrendered.

It continued: “By this gallant action and total disregard of personal danger, he was the means of enabling not only his own company but also those on the flanks to advance."

He was discharged in October 1918 with wounds to his leg and arm.

The day he was given the award was an extraordinary one which showed his courage again. Months after the war had ended, CSM Williams went to Buckingham Palace to receive his medals. There he was given his VC, his Distinguished Conduct Medal and his Military Medal with bar by King George V. This was the first time the King had decorated anyone four times in one day. By the day of the presentation in February 1919 he still had not fully recovered from his wounds, and his arm opened up during the presentation which had to be operated on before he could leave the palace.

For good measure he was also awarded the Medaille Militaire, the French equivalent of the VC, before he returned once again to work for the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company. There he was given a house, coal and electricity for life. He died in 1953 aged 66 and his grave is at Ebbw Vale Cemetery.

A memorial to John Williams was unveiled in Nantyglo in 2014 after funds were raised by the local community. On it, the reasons for giving all his medals are given. His medals can be seen today at the South Wales Borderers and Monmouthshire Regiment Museum at Brecon.

Although John Williams was to be Gwent's only VC of the war, there were hundreds of others who earned medals for their gallantry.

A strapping Guardsman from Newport displayed the kind of courage which he would have learned on the field as a player for Pill Harriers.

Tom Corrigan stood at over six-feet. His size (more unusual then) made the Grenadier Guards a natural home for the man born on Baldwin Street, Newport.

But it wasn't his exploits on the field that marked him out. This strapping ex-dock worker earned the Distinguished Conduct Medal, second only in order of precedence to the Victoria Cross.

Tom joined up before the war in 1909 and was in the Reserves when war was declared in 1914. He was among the first British soldiers to be posted to France, as part of the British Expeditionary Force.

The third battle of Ypres or Passchendaele in 1917 saw him lead a bayonet charge which captured a German strongpoint.

Private Corrigan's citation tells how his platoon was held up by rifle and machine gun fire from a concrete blockhouse.

It adds: “He, with a comrade, rushed forward and captured the post at the point of a bayonet with the utmost dash and gallantry killing four of the enemy and capturing 17 with their machine gun.

“The courage and initiative of these two men undoubtedly saved the lives of many of their comrades.”

This hero, it seems was a modest one. The guardsman is remembered by his niece as “a very quiet man who loved rugby”. She recalled that when people asked him about the incident which won him the DCM “he just laughed and claimed that he had only shouted at the Germans”.

Modest too was Company Quartermaster Sergeant Cornelius Love of Cwmbran.

CQS Love lived quietly after the war with his wife Catherine, one son and two daughters at 38 Woodside Road, Pontnewydd.

His work as an agent for the Pearl Assurance Society would not have hinted at the moment of battlefield heroism which saved another man's life and earned him one the highest honours he could be given.

An 'old sweat', he had served for 14 years with the South Wales Borderers but had joined the Pontypool-based 2nd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment just before the outbreak of the war in August 1914.

His time came during that hammer of the Monmouthshires, the second battle of Ypres. On 29 April 1915, as the men of Gwent were subject to wave upon wave of German attacks, Sgt Love came to the rescue of a fellow NCO, Sergeant Wallis, who had fallen wounded within 25 to 30 yards of the German lines.

The citation tells of his "great gallantry in going to the rescue of a wounded comrade at night under a heavy rifle and machine gun fire". Leaving the trench and under heavy fire, the Cwmbran man carried Sgt Wallis to safety.

The town band played and thousands welcomed Sgt Love when he returned to Cwmbran in September 1915. The chairman of Llantarnam Urban District Council presented him with a certificate of honour and the cheering which greeted the modest hero was said to be “loud and continuous”.

He died in August 1930, aged 60 and is buried at Cwmbran Cemetery.

They are just three of the many from Gwent whose outstanding acts singled them out for honour.