A SOLDIER from Herefordshire played a major part in one of the best-known acts of gallantry in military history - and his contribution is still being celebrated.

Private Robert Jones, from Peterchurch, was awarded one of the 11 Victoria Crosses at Rorke's Drift when a force of 120 men held off 4,500 Zulu warriors in 1879.

During the battle - which hit cinema screens in the film Zulu - seven Victoria Crosses were awarded to men from the 24th regiment, The Royal Regiment of Wales. It remains the highest number ever won by one regiment in a single action.

Ten of the 11 VCs, many from private collections, have been on display at the Regimental Museum in Brecon and among those who attended was the great-granddaughter and great-great-grandson of Robert Jones.

"Many of these rare gallantry medals had never been displayed in public before," said Major Martin Everett, curator of the museum.

Amazingly all of the men who were awarded a VC for their bravery on that January day in South Africa survived.

Despite the ferocity of the attack, just 12 defenders of the outpost died - most of them wounded men who had been in the hospital.

The Zulus, who did not have the modern military equipment of the age, paid a much higher price.