Victoria Cross noticeboard.

Canadian VC group for sale

A British collector has bid $C319,000 for the Victoria Cross group awarded to Corporal Fred Topham of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion for gallantry in Germany in 1945. The group is a major asset in the will of Topham's widow, Mary, who died in 2001. The couple had no children and the rest of the family decided to sell his medals to settle the estate.

The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Association has been running a campaign since September to raise funds to purchase the Victoria Cross group. The Association have a verbal agreement with the executor of the estate will sell the group to a Canadian buyer for $C275,000.

Topham was a 27-year-old medical orderly in the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion when he jumped into Germany on the morning of 24 March 1945. The battalion lost 23 killed and 40 wounded, including Topham in the battle known as the Rhine Crossing.

For several hours, under constant attack from small arms, rifle and machinegun fire, Topham attended to wounded comrades. When two other orderlies were killed trying to help a disabled soldier to safety, Topham took over, despite being hit in the face by enemy fire. In considerable pain, but ignoring his wound, he carried the injured paratrooper to shelter, continuing to bring in other wounded troops for several more hours before allowing medical staff to attend to him. On his way to have his wound looked after, he rescued three soldiers from a burning Bren-gun carrier despite being under enemy mortar fire, as well as being in danger from the carrier's live ammunition, which began exploding among the flames.

The battalion association launched a public fundraising campaign across the country seeking support from various levels of government, the corporate world, and members of the public. The Toronto Sun has put its support behind the appeal. By the start of December the fund raising campaign had passed the $C200,000 mark with money still coming and the organisers were confident of reaching the $C275,000 target by 31 December.

The 1st Canadian Parachute Bn served with the 6th British Airborne Division and took part in the drops at Normandy, on D-Day in 1944 and at the Rhine in 1945. Topham's VC, the second last Canadian award in World War Two, was the only one awarded to the 6th British Airborne.

Seventy nine members of the Canadian Forces have been awarded the Victoria Cross in the Boer War and two world wars. The last Canadian award was posthumously to a Canadian naval airman, Lt Robert Hampton Gray, RCNVR at Onagawa Wan, Japan on 9 August 1945. There is only one living Canadian recipient, Ernest "Smoky" Smith, who was commended for single-handedly beating back a German counterattack during a battle for an Italian river crossing in 1944.

For additional information on the Topham VC appeal see www.qor.com

VC for Iraq?

The June edition of Sabretache mentioned a possible VC award for Iraq. The British media has identified the troop carrier driver as Private Johnston Beharry, 22 who lived in Croydon before enlisting. He hails from the Caribbean isle of Grenada. After being evacuated to England Private Beharry underwent complex surgery to remove bone splinters from his brain at Selly Oak Military Hospital near Birmingham.

I would expect in the 21st Century that any Victoria Cross would receive plenty of advance publicity and do not feel this speculation would detract from the chances of the award being granted. If the VC is granted to Beharry I would hope that in the tradition of the Victoria Cross that it is published in a separate supplement to the London Gazette even if it processed and gazetted at the same time as the six monthly list of operational awards.

Queen visits VC war grave in Germany

On 3 November, 15 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Queen during her fourth State visit to Germany visited Stahnsdorf cemetery where she stood in silence before the grave of British Army Major Charles Allix Lavington (Cal) Yate, aged 42 who was awarded the Victoria Cross for valour at the Battle of Le Cateau.

Yate who was seriously wounded in the Boer War, commanded one of the two companies of the 2nd Battalion The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) that remained to the end in the trenches at Le Cateau on 26 August 1914. When all other officers were killed or wounded, and ammunition exhausted, he led his 19 survivors in a charge against the enemy. His citation published in the London Gazette on 25 November 1914 stated that he was severely wounded, picked up by the enemy and had subsequently died as a prisoner of war.

Recent research at the Public Record Office (The National Archives) in London reveals the very sad circumstances of his death. Yate escaped from prison dressed in ill fitting civilian clothes but was discovered by locals. Rather than surrender he slashed himself in the neck several times with a razor. He staggered on for a further forty meters and died. After the war, an official inquiry into his death had no reason to doubt the manner of his death.

Yate was buried in Martinkirchen churchyard in eastern Germany. In 1924-25, Yate's grave was one of many from more than 140 burial grounds in eastern Germany brought to Berlin southwestern cemetery. Now known as Stahnsdorf cemetery it is located on the eastern edge of the Potsdam Forest close to the village of Stahnsdorf, about 26 kilometres south west of Berlin and 15 kilometres east of Potsdam. There are now 1,176 First World War servicemen buried or commemorated in the cemetery.

The 2nd Bn KOYLI was awarded two Victoria Crosses for Le Cateau on 26 August 1914. Frederick Holmes served seven years in the British Army from 1907 but within two weeks of leaving he was recalled as a reservist in August 1914. On 26 August 1914, Holmes carried the badly wounded 12 stone Norman Woodcock on his back for two miles until he reached some stretcher bearers. Holmes returned to his battalion and helped to drive a gun out of action by taking the place of a driver who was wounded. Soon afterwards Holmes was so badly wounded that he came close to having his leg amputated.

Holmes was presented with the Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 13 January 1915. He was promoted to Sergeant when he returned to France in October 1915. In December he was transferred to India and in March 1917 became a Second Lieutenant and was sent to Mesopotamia, where he fractured his skull. After the war he immigrated to Australia and died in Port Augusta on 22 October 1969.

Canada and the Victoria Cross

The Canadian Legion magazine is doing an 18 part series on Canadian Victoria Cross recipients. The November/December 2004 edition, the sixth in the series tells the story of six Canadian recipients in the first half of 1917. The current edition, which also has links to previous articles in the series, can be found at http://www.legionmagazine.com/.

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