Harry Cator was born on 24 Jan 1894 in Drayton, 4 miles northwest of Norwich. He was in the 7th Battalion East Surreys, and in the battle of the Somme, in July 1916, he won the Military Medal for rescuing 36 wounded men from no-mans land. On 9 April 1917, near Arras, Sergeant Cator’s platoon was under fire from a German machine-gun that had caused them to lose several men. Cator, with one other man, bravely rushed across open ground to deal with this gun. The other man was killed so Cator went on, and picked up a Lewis gun with a good supply of ammunition. He reached the enemy trench and was able to kill the whole gun-team including an officer whose papers he seized. He held onto his position long enough to enable a bombing squad to make a successful raid resulting in 100 prisoners and 5 machine-guns. A few days later he was badly injured by a shell which broke his jaw on both sides.
Sergeant Harry Cator was presented with his VC at Buckingham Palace by the King, on 21 July 1917. He served in the Home Guard in WW2 and given a commission, reaching the rank of captain. He also commanded a PoW camp near Cranwick. He died at Sprowston, Norwich on 7 April 1966, and was buried in the churchyard there.
