Victoria Cross for Captain " Gus " Bonner

Charles George " Gus " BONNER, an Aldridge man, was a Captain in the Royal Naval Reserve forces on HMS Dunraven, which was a 'Q' ship, designed to fight U boats. These ships were converted merchant vessels concealing large deck guns. During the war there existed a convention of allowing the crew of a damaged ship to disembark before sinking, which is why Q ships would lure the U-boat to the surface at which point it would be sunk before it could retaliate. While this may have been effective, it only worked when the U-boat was willing to play fair, by observing the convention for damaged ships, that is to say before the Germans caught on. These decoy tactics are largely responsible for the German orders to sink without warning.
Charles Bonner was awarded the Victoria Cross a a result of action when his gun position was hit during a battle with a U boat in the Atlantic Ocean, on 8th August 1917. He received his medal at Sandringham as a guest of the King and Queen. After the war he was a marine salvage expert in Edinburgh where he died on 7th February 1951, His memory is served by a headstone in St Mary's Church Aldridge, and Bonner Grove in Aldridge also commemorates the Bonner family name.
The Victoria Cross is Britain's higest award for gallantry, yet it is quite possible that few people in Aldridge even know about Charles Bonner, so it has been suggested that a inscription or plaque on the War memorial outside St Mary's Church, may be worth consideration for such a distinquished figure of our community.

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