Almost superhuman. "There is no white marble stone in Loupart Wood bearing the name of Sergeant Alexander Edwards. There was no bearer party to carry him after he fell. No piper played, no Flowers of the Forest and there was no volley of shots for him. Brave men are not always graced with the goodbyes they deserve. He was just an "ordinary man" from Lossiemouth in Moray, the son of a fisherman who went to war and did extraordinary things. Thousands of people have gathered for Monday's services across the UK to mark the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War and Alexander Edwards was one of those who found themselves thrown right into the heart of it. On Sunday, his descendants gathered to pay their respects to the Scottish soldier who risked all to save the lives of the men he had fought alongside. "It's very difficult for a civilian to actually imagine it," said Hazel McPherson, Edwards' great-niece. "These men went off for an adventure. They signed up from the back streets and from the countryside and suddenly they hit the hell that was the battlefields of France. "And what's more, they went back when they were ordered to, back to the horrors of the trenches and the constant gunfire where the next bullet might have had their name on it. "You can't begin to understand the kind of courage that must have required." Alexander Edwards found himself in St Julien, just outside Ypres in Belgium, 100 years ago. He was a platoon sergeant but that day he had been made acting company sergeant major. As a young lad, he attended Lossiemouth school, caddied at Moray Links and worked as a cooper in the herring industry. Now, he was in charge of a group of men, on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele. It was July 31, 1917, and they had been ordered to advance. They were forming up in a place called Kitchener's Wood - up ahead was a bridge over the Steinbeck River that they needed to cross. The battalion was tasked with driving forward but the advance slowed to a virtual halt due to enemy machine guns. The Seaforths started to take on serious casualties. Alexander Edwards had no rifle. He had no grenades. He had just two pistols. He crawled behind the machine gun nest, hid in a shell hole, and shot down all ten men. On his way back to his own men, he was wounded by a sniper and took a shot in the arm. Although the weapon used was very different, Edwards knew the sniper could do serious damage as well. He stalked the sniper in broad daylight and then, in the sniper's field of fire, shot him down. Despite being wounded Edwards stayed with his men. The assault continued towards the bridge and it was taken. But later Edwards realised there was an officer missing in no man's land. A major of a cavalry unit had been left in the open, badly wounded. Without a moment's hesitation, Edwards crept out and through a hail of bullets darted from shell hole to shell hole until he reached the wounded officer. Despite shrapnel wounds to his knee and under intensifying enemy fire, he carried him back to his own lines. Despite his protestations, Edwards was ordered to receive treatment for his now significant number of wounds. When he got to the hospital, his only complaint was apparently about the weather. A few weeks later he was sent back to London and to Buckingham Palace to meet King George V. For not one, nor two but three acts of heroism, Edwards was awarded the Victoria Cross, still the highest award for gallantry." War hero: Sergeant risked all to save his men in WW1 battle
