Published in Windlesora 33 (2018)
© WLHG
The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead has dedicated a memorial garden on Bachelors’ Acre to Lt Col Harry Greenwood VC DSO OBE MC, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for outstanding bravery and leadership in October 1918. The now Mayor, Councillor John Lenton, officially opened the garden on 25 November 2016 in the presence of a large number of the Greenwood family.
After Cllr Lenton asked for a two-minute silence to remember those whose lives were lost in the war, Michael Greenwood spoke about his great-great uncle, and local historian Derek Hunt spoke about the history of the VC. Mr Hunt also spoke about Oliver Brooks, another First World War VC recipient connected with Windsor. Many of the Brooks family were also in attendance.
A paving stone in honour of Lt Col Greenwood will be laid in the garden in October 2018, on the centenary of his VC action, as part of a national scheme to commemorate the birthplace towns of VC recipients. Harry Greenwood was born in 1881 at Victoria Barracks, where there is now a blue plaque to record his birth.
A three-panel information board on the site gives details of Windsor in the First World War on the first panel, Harry Greenwood VC on the second panel and six other VC recipients with connections to the Royal Borough (including Oliver Brooks) on the third panel.