HENRY MAY was given a hero's welcome when he returned from the front line.

He was the first soldier from Glasgow to be awarded the Victoria Cross and was carried shoulder high minutes after stepping off a train at Central Station.

The VC is the highest and most prestigious medal to be awarded for gallantry, and Henry, from Bridgeton, made history when he was honoured for saving the life of his platoon commander on the battlefields of France.

Without a thought for his own safety he dodged enemy fire by zig-zagging 300 yards across the front line to drag to safety his platoon commander Lieutenant Douglas Graham, who had been wounded in the leg.

The officer of 1st Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) begged Henry to leave him but it was an order that the 29-year-old soldier from Glasgow's East End ignored.

Henry's death-defying act of bravery happened at night in the La Boutillerie area of northern France on October 22, 1914, and afterwards his wife admitted: "He has always been lucky."

But the private wasn't so lucky just days later when he was struck on the face by a piece of shrapnel. The next three weeks were spent in a base hospital before he was allowed to return to Glasgow to spend Christmas and the New Year with his wife and three young children.

Family and friends greeted him at Central Station and carried him shoulder high in a very public show of honour for the city's first ever VC.

After the war Henry went into business and became a partner in a hosiery firm. Before the war he had worked as a mechanic and had also worked at a number of weaving mills in the East End.

The man who was educated at Dalmarnock School died in a Glasgow hospital in the summer of 1941. He is buried in Riddrie Cemetery.

The medal which was presented to him at Buchingham Palace is on public display at the Cameronian Museum in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.

One hundred years on and the bravery of Henry May has not been forgotten. Five locals successfully campaigned for a memorial to honour him and another soldier who had been awarded the VC posthumously.

The tribute was agreed by officials at the Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Company and formed part of an extensive upgrade at Bridgeton Cross which cost almost £1million.

The other soldier remembered is Jimmy Richardson, who died on the battlefields of France just weeks before his 21st birthday.

He inspired comrades by playing the bagpipes as they scrambled out of muddy trenches to go into battle.

Born in the coal mining town of Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, his family moved to Bridgeton, where Jimmy attended John Street School before he and his parents emigrated to Canada around 1911.

His father was the police chief in Chilliwack, a city in an agricultural area of British Columbia.

Jimmy found work as a driller but before the outbreak of war he had spent six months in the cadet corps of the 72nd Regiment (Seaforth Highlanders).

He had been a member of the Vancouver unit - the seaport city 50 miles from Chilliwack - which had a pipe band.

The schoolboy from Glasgow volunteered for service in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was recruited as a soldier and piper with the 16th Infantry Battalion (Canadian Scottish).

He and his battalion were shipped to France and saw action during the Somme offensive of 1916.

Jimmy took part in a number of bloody battles, but one of the most difficult encounters was an attempt to seize control of the Regina Trench.

It was the longest trench of its kind during the entire First World War and was heavily defended by the Germans, who repelled repeated attacks by Canadian soldiers who were at their most vunerable while exposed running over no man's land.

Jimmy had not been chosen for any of the assaults but shortly before one attack he persuaded his commanding officer to allow him to fight and lead a company of men by playing the bagpipes.

But the Canadians faced a wall of bullets and an enemy wire which had not been cut. It wasn't long before Jimmy was surrounded by dead and wounded comrades.

Even the company commander had been killed. Undaunted and clutching his bagpipes Jimmy turned to the company sergeant major and pleaded: "Wull I gie them wund?"

He was given permission and for the next 10 minutes Jimmy "strode up and down outside the wire, playing his pipes with the greatest coolness," read the citation for his VC.

"The effect was instantaneous. Inspired by his splendid example, the company rushed the wire with such fury and determination that the obstacle was overcome and the position captured."

The records show that 20-year-old Jimmy survived against all the odds.

Later he was ordered to take a wounded comrade to safety along with four German prisoners.

But he had forgotten his pipes and when he returned to get them it is believed he was shot by enemy fire and killed.

His body was never found and initially he was posted missing in action. Officers later ruled he died on October 9, 1916.

Two years later he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery during the battle for Regina Trench.

David and Mary Richardson were still living in Chilliwack when they were told of Jimmy's award. "No parents could have been more proud of their son," they said.

gordon.thomson@eveningtimes.co.uk