Steve Ladner,in Faversham and
Stuart Maisner,South East
Imperial War Museum
Philip Neame was born in Faversham in 1888
Only one person has ever been awarded both the Victoria Cross and an Olympic gold medal.
Lt Gen Sir Philip Neame, from Faversham, Kent, was commended for improvising grenades out of jam tins and running up to German lines during World War One to deliver them.
In 1924 he went on to win a shooting competition at the Paris Olympics.
Historian Neil Tonge said Neame was a “local hero” with a “derring-do” attitude.
Neame was born in 1888 into the Shepherd Neame family, owners of one of the oldest breweries in the UK.
Mr Tonge said: “He had all the privileges of a relatively wealthy upbringing and he took every advantage of that.”
Neame enlisted in the army as an engineer and went to the Western Front in France, where he fought in the trenches against the German forces.
“There was a shortage of weaponry, so Neame and his compatriots filled jam tins with gunpowder, bits of shrapnel, hobnails from their boots, all sorts of things,” said Mr Tonge.
“They attached the fuses to the jam tin which would then explode in under a minute.
“With this derring-do attitude they would then raid the enemy trenches.”
Listen: Faversham’s jam tin grenade VC
Neame survived and was decorated with the Victoria Cross, the highest accolade for valour in war.
He continued his career in the army while also pursuing an interest in rifle shooting, and competed in the 1924 Olympics with great success.
Neame went on to train the Tibetan army, before getting called up for World War Two.
He fought, and was captured, in North Africa, then was a prisoner of war in Italy before escaping back to Britain.
He died in 1978 and is buried in the village of Selling in Kent.
His son, with the same name, fought in the Falklands War in 1982.
In his home town of Faversham a plaque on the pavement near the guildhall commemorates Neame’s place in history.
