John Cruickshank, Last World War II Victoria Cross Winner, Dies at 105

Flight Lt. John Cruickshank was at the controls of a Royal Air Force plane on submarine patrol in July 1944 when he spotted a German U-boat steaming placidly on the surface of the Norwegian Sea.

Swooping low, just 50 feet above the waves, the plane raked the submarine with gunfire, but the airplane’s depth charges failed to deploy.

As Flight Lieutenant Cruickshank returned for a second run, he was now fully in the U-boat’s sights, and the submarine fired a shell that exploded inside the airplane’s fuselage. The bombardier was killed, and Flight Lieutenant Cruickshank was lacerated by shrapnel, though he gave no indication of his grievous wounds to his crew.

He released the depth charges himself, sinking the U-boat. Wounded in 72 places, he had to be carried to a bunk as the crew braced for the five-hour night flight back to the plane’s R.A.F. base in the Shetland Islands, off the northern tip of Scotland.

One of the nicest looking valour medals ever made... Made from bronze cannons captured in the Crimean War

A total of 1,358 Victoria Crosses have been awarded, recognizing 1,355 individual recipients. The medal, instituted in 1856, is the UK's highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy.

That's 1,355 people from all of the common wealth countries... And 3 of them were awarded this medal twice.

And check this out from Wiki... Valour Road is a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) street in the West End area of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Originally called Pine Street, it was renamed Valour Road in 1925 to recognize three young men—Corporal Leo Clarke, Sergeant-Major Frederick William Hall, and Lieutenant Robert Shankland—who all lived in the 700-block and individually received the Victoria Cross for acts of bravery during the First World War.

Also... The bronze from which all Victoria Crosses are made is supplied by the Central Ordnance Depot in Donnington. This metal is cut from cannons captured from the Russians at Sebastopol during the Crimean War.

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