As ever an excellent, informative and interesting article. We had a talk by a general once at the anniversary of the Dancocks VC in WW1. I seem to remember he said part of the criteria for being awarded the VC was you had to stand a 99.9% chance of being killed. Another friend also pointed out that some regiments are far better at writing citations than others and that they get more VC’s. I am not sure how true this is.
Great stuff Robert. My grandfather was on that hill as well, in the same unit as Knowland. If someone wrote that as a film, they wouldn't believe it. Good to hear about the book & Steve Snelling talk next year. Very much looking forward to both.
What makes a VC? Without any doubt whatsoever it is having the correctly specified reporting chain in action when you perform your gallant deed. Many, many VC - level acts of gallantry occur in hard fought retreats or when parachute troops are widely dispersed on a night drop. Even when men sacrifice their lives in such instances in order to protect their comrades and assist in the accomplishment of the mission, a VC is out of the question because the required level of recommendation was not there, or did not survive. If they are lucky such dead heroes may just be recommended for a Mention in Despatches - the only other posthumous award they qualify for. So when we discuss the whole VC situation, let's not be unaware of the phalanx of posthumous awards that were never made.
These people, all of them really, a truly remarkable.
As ever an excellent, informative and interesting article. We had a talk by a general once at the anniversary of the Dancocks VC in WW1. I seem to remember he said part of the criteria for being awarded the VC was you had to stand a 99.9% chance of being killed. Another friend also pointed out that some regiments are far better at writing citations than others and that they get more VC’s. I am not sure how true this is.
Great stuff Robert. My grandfather was on that hill as well, in the same unit as Knowland. If someone wrote that as a film, they wouldn't believe it. Good to hear about the book & Steve Snelling talk next year. Very much looking forward to both.
@VCTrust
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What makes a VC? Without any doubt whatsoever it is having the correctly specified reporting chain in action when you perform your gallant deed. Many, many VC - level acts of gallantry occur in hard fought retreats or when parachute troops are widely dispersed on a night drop. Even when men sacrifice their lives in such instances in order to protect their comrades and assist in the accomplishment of the mission, a VC is out of the question because the required level of recommendation was not there, or did not survive. If they are lucky such dead heroes may just be recommended for a Mention in Despatches - the only other posthumous award they qualify for. So when we discuss the whole VC situation, let's not be unaware of the phalanx of posthumous awards that were never made.