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Author: Michael Ashcroft Publisher: Headline ISBN: 0755364503 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 287
Book Description
This ebook edition contains the full text version as per the book. Doesn't include original photographic and illustrated material. VICTORIA CROSS HEROES tells the stories of over 150 individuals whose bravery has earned them the Victoria Cross, Britain's most prestigious medal for courage in action. The book is introduced by Michael Ashcroft, who owns over ten per cent of all VCs ever awarded. He explains the history of the medal and the story of his fascination with it. The main text of the book tells the stories of both those recipients whose medals are in his collection and those whose stories featured in the television series. Each chapter covers a different conflict, from the Crimean War to Iraq.
Author: Michael Ashcroft Publisher: Headline ISBN: 0755364503 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 287
Book Description
This ebook edition contains the full text version as per the book. Doesn't include original photographic and illustrated material. VICTORIA CROSS HEROES tells the stories of over 150 individuals whose bravery has earned them the Victoria Cross, Britain's most prestigious medal for courage in action. The book is introduced by Michael Ashcroft, who owns over ten per cent of all VCs ever awarded. He explains the history of the medal and the story of his fascination with it. The main text of the book tells the stories of both those recipients whose medals are in his collection and those whose stories featured in the television series. Each chapter covers a different conflict, from the Crimean War to Iraq.
Author: Michael Madden Publisher: ISBN: 9781925520989 Category : Languages : en Pages : 512
Book Description
This book is an ambitious endeavour to capture the history of Australia's pre-eminent award for acts of bravery in the face of the enemy and its highest military honour, the Victoria Cross (VC). Since 1856 when the award was created by Queen Victoria, 100 Australian servicemen have been recognised with the Cross. This book, however, is not a ......
Author: Kevin Brazier Publisher: Casemate Publishers ISBN: 1473872065 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 450
Book Description
This fully revised paperback edition of the complete chronological record of VC holders is an essential work of reference for every student of military history. All the British and Commonwealth servicemen who have been awarded the highest honour for exceptional acts of bravery and self-sacrifice are commemorated here. The first VCs awarded for the Crimean War and in the nineteenth-century colonial wars are described, as are the VCs awarded in the world wars of the twentieth century and the most recent VCs awarded during present-day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The extraordinary exploits recounted in this fascinating book make unforgettable reading.
Author: Max Arthur Publisher: Pan Macmillan ISBN: 9780330491334 Category : Art Languages : en Pages : 750
Book Description
The Victoria Cross can only be awarded for most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy. It has been awarded only 1,354 times since the Crimean War, the majority going to British and Commonwealth troops. Symbol of Courage vividly brings the story of the medal to life, giving a narrative history from the Crimean War to the recent war in Afghanistan. It includes many first-hand accounts of individual acts of bravery and describes what happened to the VC holders, some of whom found it was harder wearing the medal than winning it. It also gives a complete listing of every VC holder with details of the action in which they won the medal. Written by acclaimed military historian Max Arthur, this is a fascinating and comprehensive study that will appeal to everyone who is interested in military history.The Victoria Cross is Britains most famous medalit has a great emotional appeal and this book is full of stories of remarkable courage. Max Arthurs last book, Forgotten Voices of the Great War, sold over 84,000 copies in paperback for Ebury. The first book for many years to give a complete history of the medal. There are many Commonwealth holders so there should be a market outside the UK.
Author: Robert Hamilton Publisher: ISBN: 9781909242425 Category : Great Britain Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
The Victoria Cross had been in existence over 60 years when Archduke Franz Ferdinand fell to an assassins bullet, the event that triggered a Europe-wide call to arms in August 1914. It was an award that democratised military honours, for it was open to all ranks, the sole qualification being a display of conspicuous bravery in the field. The sovereign whose name it bore was personally responsible for the Crosss simple legend: For Valour. Forged, it is said, from cannons captured during the Crimean War, the medals were rather too plain for some tastes. The Times derided the VC as a dull, heavy, tasteless prize when the first investiture ceremony took place in Hyde Park on 26 June 1857. But its virtue, quite deliberately, lay in its very simplicity. It was the action for which the medal was given that should dazzle, not the decoration itself. The Victoria Cross became pre-eminent: first in line when pinned to a uniform or appended to a recipients name. Over 500 VCs had been awarded by the outbreak of the First World War. That figure more than doubled during the four-year-long conflict. Trench warfare, when the rival camps might be dug in less than 100 yards apart, afforded endless opportunities to show courage and mettle in the face of the enemy. Many were honoured for attacking feats, often taking the fight to the foe when the odds were stacked against survival. But hurling oneself into the fray was but one of valours many faces. Stretcher-bearers, medical staff, pipers and chaplains also showed the same strength in adversity, the same disregard for personal safety, the same willingness to exceed the call of duty. And, in over 180 instances, a readiness to make the ultimate sacrifice for King and Country. The call to act could come at any moment. In William McFadzeans case it came when the safety pins slipped from two grenades in a crowded trench just before the Somme battle. He flung himself onto the bombs, saving his comrades at the cost of his own life. For Rex Warneford it came in the skies over Ghent on 7 June 1915, when he became the first man to down a German airship in flight. He was thrown from his plane during a flight ten days later. For Jack Cornwell it came during the Battle of Jutland, when, mortally wounded, he stuck doggedly to his post awaiting orders. He was 16 years old. This book chronicles the inspiring, thrilling, humbling and deeply moving stories behind the 628 Victoria Crosses awarded during the course of the Great War. Without inscription, those 628 medals, like all the others cast by London jewelers, Hancocks over the past century and a half, would have no intrinsic worth. Once earned, inscribed and conferred, they assume inestimable value.
Author: Gary Mead Publisher: Atlantic Books (UK) ISBN: 9781843542704 Category : Victoria Cross Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
This controversial book, by one of the UK's finest military historians, reveals the squalid truth about Britain's highest military honor, exposing a shameful history of racism, misogyny, and political expediency. When 25-year old Private Johnson Beharry won the Victoria Cross in 2005 for bravery under fire in Iraq, he was the first person to win Britain's highest military honor since the Falklands war in 1982 and the first living recipient since 1969, when two Australians were given the award for action in Vietnam. Born out of the squalor of the Crimean War in 1856 and the fragility of the monarchy at that time, the VC's prestige is such that it takes precedence over all other orders and medals in Britain. But while many books have been written about specific aspects of the VC and its recipients, none have asked why so many brave men who deserved the medal were denied it, and why no women have ever been awarded the VC, even though they are entitled. Military historian Gary Mead's vivid and balanced account of the VC's life and times exposes the hypocrisy behind one of the UK's last sacred cows, and explores its role as a barometer for the shifting sands of political and social change during the last 150 years.
Author: Ashali Varma Publisher: ISBN: 9788131774595 Category : Electronic books Languages : en Pages : 243
Book Description
Memoirs of the author's father, Prem Bhagat, who was military officer in Africa during World War II and after in independent India and awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in World War II.
Author: Michael C. Madden Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1922488666 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 333
Book Description
Kevin ‘Dasher’ Wheatley VC is one of the most extraordinary characters in Australian history. Dasher was a husband, father, champion footballer and one of the finest soldiers this country has ever produced. The story of his sacrifice is used by the ADF as a perfect example of valour and mateship to this day. Although he is one of the most famous Victoria Cross recipients of all time, his story has never been fully told. Until now. Dasher: The Kevin Wheatley VC Story was written with first-hand accounts from Dasher’s family and the men who served and fought alongside him. It tells not only the story of an unlikely lad from the mean streets of Sydney, but that of a soldier whose death devastated the ranks of three armies and changed the way Australia dealt with the overseas loss of service people forever. Everyone who met the man has a Dasher Wheatley story of larrikin behaviour, outstanding soldiering, stunning valour, or all three. Forwarded by Keith Payne VC and featuring the 2021 investiture of Dasher’s American Silver Star, an award 56 years in the making, this book also investigates other gallantry awards Wheatley qualified for but was never given.
Author: Alan Leek Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1925675726 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 337
Book Description
"A riveting historical mystery that sweeps four continents and fills a void in the Victoria Cross story." Frederick Whirlpool’s Victoria Cross is displayed near the entrance to the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. It was the first VC pinned to an Australian uniform, yet almost nothing was known about its enigmatic recipient. Two acts of valour during the Indian Mutiny, won him the Victoria Cross, but 17 severe sword wounds ended his career. Arriving in Victoria in 1859, he became a volunteer rifleman and school teacher. His VC was presented in Melbourne in 1861. He was an applicant to join the Victoria Police, but a corrupt recruitment process and unsolicited political interference prevented it. Repulsed by fame, he fled and hid his cross from the world. Fragments of his story were known, but since 1895, they have been tainted by error, guesswork and in one recent British work, pure fantasy. This work solves an old mystery. It reveals his true identity and early life in Ireland before joining the East India Company Army. To understand his service, the Central Indian campaign under Sir Hugh Rose, is examined in some detail, something that has not been done before. The real horrors of that campaign are revealed to show their devastating impact on this sensitive man. Rich sources reveal his anguished story. Humphrey James’ reasons for changing his identity and leaving his family forever, are unearthed. His life in Australia is revealed, showing his fall, firstly from policing and then teaching, in NSW. He undoubtedly struggled with his demons and believed that he was destined for eternal damnation. The passage of his Victoria Cross, after his death was unknown before it appeared on the market in 1927. Its movements and those of his Indian Mutiny medal with its Central India clasp, are now revealed’ This fascinating story fills huge gaps in the narrative of this ordinary man, whose life is deserving of factual interpretation. It is a story of heroism, suffering and failure, but the forgotten man will triumph in its telling. His sad life ended as a recluse in 1899, and he was buried in an unmarked grave in Windsor. The only mourner who attended his funeral left a thread, which has allowed painstaking research to uncover the true story of this sad and purposefully enigmatic hero.
Author: Michael Ashcroft
Author: Michael Ashcroft
Author: Philip Aveling Wilkins
Author: Michael Madden
Author: Kevin Brazier
Author: Max Arthur
Author: Robert Hamilton
Author: Gary Mead
Author: Ashali Varma
Author: Michael C. Madden
Author: Alan Leek