A Victoria Cross awarded to a member of an Irish regiment will today be returned to Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, the birthplace of the soldier who posthumously received the medal 85 years ago.
Captain Eric Bell, a member of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, was part of the 109th Brigade, 36th Ulster Division at Thiepval on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
The 20-year-old captain led several ambushes and bomb attacks before being killed while organising a counterattack among scattered infantry.
Col Stewart Douglas, of the Royal Irish Regiment will today formally hand over the medal to The Rt Hon, The Viscount Brookeborough, patron of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Regimental Museum in Enniskillen Castle where it will be displayed.
The medal is the fourth and final Victoria Cross awarded to members of the Irish regiments for acts of bravery on July 1st, 1916. Three are already in museums around the North.
King George V originally presented Capt Bell's family with the Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace in November 1916 and his sister Dora took the medal to New Zealand when she emigrated in 1933.
Retired Air Marshal Sir Richard Bolt, a stepson of Dora Bell, who was subsequently bequeathed the medal, recently arranged for it to be returned to the Royal Irish Regiment.
"The VC has been a source of pride and inspiration in my own family, but I now wish to ensure it is kept in appropriate hands," he said. "I am delighted to learn about the museum at Enniskillen Castle and clearly this is where Bell's VC should be," he added.
The Viscount Brookeborough said he was honoured to accept the medal into the collection.
He thanked Sir Richard "for his outstanding generosity in presenting this highest of decorations".