Jack Thomas Counter

He crossed a fire-swept slope after five runners were killed

Jack Thomas Counter was born at Blandford Forum, Dorset, on 3 November 1898. He attended the local National School and worked for the International Stores before joining the King's Liverpool Regiment in February 1917. Posted to the 1st Battalion in France, he entered the war as a young infantryman with no intention of making the Army his permanent career.

In April 1918 the battalion defended ground south of Arras against the German spring offensive. On 16 April, near Boisleux-Saint-Marc, enemy troops had entered the forward line, but battalion headquarters lacked reliable information about the surviving defenders and the extent of the penetration.

Reaching them meant following a sunken road and then crossing an exposed slope under direct fire. A small party failed, and repeated attempts by individual runners ended in death. Counter had watched these failures but volunteered to try. He crossed the dangerous ground, reached the front and returned with information about the enemy, the battalion's flank and the remaining British strength. His report enabled the commanding officer to organise a counterattack that recovered the position. He subsequently carried further messages under artillery fire.

Counter received the Victoria Cross and returned to Blandford to a civic welcome. The borough made him an honorary freeman and presented gifts collected in recognition of his service. He later became a corporal.

After the war he settled in Jersey, where he worked as a postman. A period of employment in Middlesex interrupted his island career, but he returned in 1929. He married Ada Vauvert and they had a daughter, Pearl. He remained at work during the German occupation of the Channel Islands and was active in the British Legion.

Retiring from the Post Office in 1959, he received the Imperial Service Medal. The deaths of his daughter and then his wife marked his later years. He died while visiting Blandford in September 1970. His ashes were returned to Jersey, and his original medal group later entered the island's museum.