who was the highest decorated allied naval officer in WW2?

[Seeker]

To Nashwan...

Which European National (apart from the French; we know we own france) qualifies as "commonwealth"?

[cpxxx]

IRELAND ?? 8 Victoria crosses in WW2

Or does that qualify as European:confused:

[Nashwan]

I suppose the Irish forces would have qualified in WW2, but as they were neutral not much chance of any VCs being handed out. Irishmen who served in the British forces, as many did, would be eligible for the VC.

Which European National (apart from the French; we know we own france) qualifies as "commonwealth"?

Europeans, or indeed people of any nationality can recieve a VC, if they are serving in a Commonwealth military unit (that used to be the case, I doubt it applies to much, if any, of the Commonwealth now)

So a Norwegian in the British navy, even if he remained a Norwegian citizen, could get a VC, but a Norwegian in the Norwegian navy couldn't get a VC.

[Seeker]

Originally posted by Nashwan
So a Norwegian in the British navy, even if he remained a Norwegian citizen, could get a VC, but a Norwegian in the Norwegian navy couldn't get a VC.

Ah, that makes sense (I suppose!)

How do Gurkha's fit into that? Niether commonwealth nor serving in the British forces (are they? I always thought they were officialy mercenries).

I've been reading up some on Burma. So many VC's won by people not eligible for one today.

Same as it ever was :-(

[lasersailor184]

Ok, no offense, but I see this as a Kerry type thing.



Getting awards is one thing.  Getting awards for actually doing something is another.


What did he do?

[-tronski-]

Originally posted by Seeker
Ah, that makes sense (I suppose!)

How do Gurkha's fit into that? Niether commonwealth nor serving in the British forces (are they? I always thought they were officialy mercenries).

I've been reading up some on Burma. So many VC's won by people not eligible for one today.

Same as it ever was :-(

Gurkha's (11 winners of the VC) counted under the fact members of the Indian Army were elligible (which the Gurkha rifles were attached before 1948). The gurkha rifles are part of the british army since 1948.

Fourteen men not born British or Commonwealth citizens have received the VC; five Americans , one Belgian, three Danes, two Germans, one Swede, a Swiss and a Ukrainian.

 Tronsky

[Bluedog]

The Queen's Own Ghurka Rifles are a British Army Regiment, they are part of the Brit army, not mercs.

After the partition of India of 1947 it was decided that six regiments of Gurkha Rifles would remain in the Indian Army, while the remainder (2 GR, 6 GR, 7 GR and 10 GR) were established an an integral part of the British Army to become the modern Brigade of Gurkhas.  They moved to the Far East in 1948 and formed 17 Gurkha Infantry Division in Malaya.  Additional units of Engineers, Signals and Transport were raised and Regiments of the Brigade operated continuously throughout the twelve year Malayan Emergency.  They were again on active service in the Brunei Revolt of 1962 and during 'Confrontation' with Indonesia; four years of continuous operations from 1962 to 1966 in the jungles of Malyasia.  It was in November 1965 that Lance Corporal Rambahadur Limbu won his Victoria Cross, bringing the total of these awards to Gurkha nationals to 13 of whom there are now only 4 surviving.  An additional 13 VCs have also been awarded to their British Officers during the last 150 years.


Taken from http://www.army.mod.uk/brigade_of_gurkhas/index.htm

Blue

[Nilsen]

alot lasersailor...cant fit it all here...

http://www.shetland-heritage.co.uk/shetlandbus/

[Nilsen]

btw...

anyone seen the movie "suicide mission"? its a movie about this person, his crwes and missions.

[lasersailor184]

No offense to Mr. Leif Larson, but it only says that he got the medals, not what for.



Not many people know this.

A lot of people get medals.

Not a lot of the medals are for actually doing something...

[Thrawn]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
Not many people know this.

A lot of people get medals.

Not a lot of the medals are for actually doing something...

Not in the British Commonwealth in WW2.

Being award medals, in alot of cases, had a more stringent requirements than US medals.

[Nilsen]

ill see if i can find a list lasersailor184 but i belive most medals are given for some sort of bravery, and when you read what he did it would not be very hard to imagine.

[Furball]

http://www.victoriacross.net

Great read

Complete list of V.C.'s to nationality http://www.victoriacross.net/nat

Albert Ball's Citation: -

From 26 April to 6 May 1917 flying over France, Captain Ball took part in 26 combats in the course of which he destroyed 11 hostile aircraft, brought down two out of control and forced several others to land. Flying alone, on one occasion he fought six hostile machines, twice he fought five and once four. When leading two other British planes he attacked an enemy formation of eight - on each of these occasions he brought down at least one enemy plane, and several times his plane was badly damaged. On returning with a damaged plane he had always to be restrained from immediately going out in another.  

Guy Gibson's

On 16/17 May 1943 over Germany, Wing Commander Gibson led the raid on the Mohne Dam, descending to within a few feet of the water and taking the full brunt of the enemy defences. He delivered his attack with great accuracy and afterwards circled very low for 30 minutes, drawing the enemy's fire on himself in order to leave as free a run as possible to the following aircraft. He then led the remainder of his force to the Eder Dam where he repeated his tactics so that the attack could be successfully developed.  

[BUG_EAF322]

I want Lars Ulrich