Mr McKechnie was given full military honours at the historic Necropolis

James McKechnie received the military honour after he fought with the Scots Guards at the Battle of Alma in the Crimean War in 1855.

After his retirement, he fell on hard times and was buried in an unmarked grave in Glasgow's Necropolis.

A local branch of the Scots Guards organised a memorial service where a headstone was unveiled.

More than 50 members of his regiment, the Royal British Legion and the Army Cadets gathered to pay tribute to him.

Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, in 1826, Mr McKechnie was a 28-year-old sergeant in the Crimea - in modern-day Ukraine - when he made history.

The dedication service was the right thing to do because it was high time he was given a burial with the military honours he deserves William Brockie Glasgow branch secretary of the Scots Guards Association

On 20 September, 1854, at the Battle of the Alma, his battalion was under heavy enemy fire when a pole carrying the Queen's Colour was smashed and its silk riddled with bullets.

But Sgt McKechnie turned the tide when he held up his revolver and dashed forward, rallying the men around the flag.

The Scot, who was wounded in the action, became one of the first to be awarded the VC during its inauguration in 1857.

The medals were cast out of the bronze of two cannons captured from the Russians at the siege of Sebastopol in the Crimea.

His VC citation read: "When the formation of the Regiment was disordered at Alma, for having behaved gallantly and rallied the men round the Colours."

Little is known of Mr McKechnie's life after he retired from the army. He is thought to have married late in life and died soon after his wife on 5 July, 1886 at the age of 56.

Old veterans

William Brockie, Glasgow branch secretary of the Scots Guards Association, said: "I was doing some research last year into military history and I saw James McKechnie had been buried in an unmarked grave.

"He was one of the first people awarded the VC and it's very sad he was laid to rest in a pauper's grave.

"The dedication service was the right thing to do because it was high time he was given a burial with the military honours he deserves."

Serving Scots Guards have travelled from their barracks in Chelsea, west London, to join a number of old veterans and Royal British Legion standard bearers at the ceremony in the Eastern Necropolis.

Mr Brockie, a former Scots Guards lance-sergeant who served during the Suez crisis, said the sad story of Sgt McKechnie could not happen now.

For Valour

"It wouldn't be allowed now to a VC winner like Johnson Beharry because the media wouldn't let it, and also there are lots of veterans' associations and the War Graves Commission."

Edinburgh-based Abercorn Memorials donated the 27in-high grey granite headstone, worth �500.

The inscription reads: "In memory of Sgt James McKechnie VC, Scots (Fusilier) Guards, died 5 July 1886 aged 59, awarded VC for valour in Crimea."

Sgt McKechnie's VC is displayed at the Scots Guards regimental headquarters in London.

The Crimean War (1854 to 1856) was fought between Imperial Russia and an alliance of France, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire.