Valor Tales

The Victoria Cross (VC) is Britain’s highest honor. As with the American Medal of Honor (MoH), it is not only the country’s highest award overall, but is awarded solely for combat bravery. Both awards were instituted about the same time, with the VC being created in 1856 and the MoH in 1861. Since then 1,358 VCs have been awarded compared to 3,524 MoHs. While there have been 19 double MoH recipients, only three men have earned a second VC. These are my subject today. Arthur Martin-Leake, VC & Bar, VD Photo Circa 1902 Arthur Martin-Leake hailed from Hertfordshire, England where he was born in 1874. Schooled as a physician, he enlisted with the Imperial Yeomanry during the Second Boer War that started in 1899. The Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted infantry force that first left for South Africa in 1900. The Boers were Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the eastern parts of South Africa that did not take kindly to British rule. During the First Boer War, the Boers had won some i...

Let’s compare America to British, Canada, and Australia when it comes to military medals for combat valor and performance. The British system was used in Commonwealth countries (including Canada) up to and through World War II. This began to change as countries such as Canada, Australian, and New Zealand started to create their own systems of honors in the 1960’s.  The year 1993 saw a major change in all Commonwealth countries’ honors. The formerly overseas territories, such as Canada and Australia, fully created their own system of military awards separate from that used by Britain. Further, in Britain, the military awards system there removed distinctions of rank within the awards. Now enlisted and officers would receive the same award for the same performances. Previously, there were separate awards for officers and enlisted.  COMPARATIVE AWARDS British and Continental countries have long, complicated histories. This can make it hard for Americans (such as myse...

Though American history is not lacking in heroic figures worthy of writing about, I feel from time to time that the acts of servicemen from allied nations is also worth highlighting. Today's is one such article. Norman Cyril Jackson was adopted into the Gunter family when he was very young. The family adopted another young boy, Geoffrey Oliver Hartley, who as a police lieutenant in 1951 was awarded the George Medal (the second highest British award for bravery not in the face of an enemy). Jackson joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in 1939 as WWII started. He was married and in a protected occupation (fitter and turner - what we Yanks would call a machinist), so he didn't have to enlist, but he did. His RAF duties saw him using his civilian acquired skills as an engine fitter. Assigned to a flying boat squadron in Sierra Leone, he applied for and was granted retraining as a flight engineer. July 1943 saw Jackson assigned to the No. 106 Squadron flying Avro Lanca...