An unlikely hero

The Telegraph has the remarkable story of how a convicted burglar snuck up on a German machine gun position destroyed it and returned to his lines with two German prisoners.

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"I never saw anything like it: standing on top of the German front-line trench was Mariner. In the light from the Very Lights I could see him hurling bomb after bomb into the German trench.

"Pieces of bodies, limbs, heads were all flying out and up into the air. Again I thought, that's the last I'll see of him because the Germans had opened up with every gun.

"I managed to get back to our line and as I dropped over on to the fire-step, my mates grabbed me and one even kissed me, saying 'My God, you got back alive'.

"But we all thought we'd never see Mariner again.

"We sat on our fire-step, keeping our heads down and waiting for a counter-attack and after a while we heard people speaking German, which was strange because they were giving the game away. Then, pushed over the parapet, came two Germans who dropped on to the fire-step and Mariner jumped in after them, carrying part of a German machine-gun."

Much mystery has surrounded the Convict VC and it can now be settled: John William Mariner was born in Chorley, Lancs on May 29, 1882, the illegitimate son of a cotton weaver, Alice Mariner, who two years later had another son out of wedlock, named Frederick.

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Burglars have certain skills that can be advantageous during war time. Mariner had other misadventures before he was finally killed in action. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his action against the German machine gun position.