, MILTON F. GREGG WILLIAM MJSTCALFE

DAVID V. CURRIE THOMAS DINESEN

COVETED DECORATION — This is the , instituted by Queen Victoria to honor outstanding acts of bravery. The first awards were made in 1865 by the Queen to 62 men for brave deeds Ml the Crimean War. The cross, awarded to 102 , is cast in bronze from Russian guns captured at the Battle of Sebastopol. A rampant lion and the words For Valour are on the front with the name of the winner and the date of his award on the back. It GEORGE PEARKES is suspended from a brass bar and maroon ribbon. (CP Photo). FREDERICK HARVEY Victoria Cross Holders Regard Award as Battlefield Accident (By the Canadian Press) know there was sudi a cross nered New Brunswicker, also holding off his company in niey tend to regard their as the Victoria Cross when won a Miiitary Cross with bar woods nearby. Victoria Crdss asa bafticfrdtt' tbm told me I'd won it. I in the First World War. In an He tiok 35 pisoners with- thought the DCM was the attack at' "CX'trrbT a 1. -tbarfr our a snotr- • accident, something like get• highest award. cleared out Germans holding "I'm pretty fairly happy," ting hit by a stray biilet. up the Allied advance, his ci- "I was in hospital at Nor• he says of his post-war life. "You don't win these t a t i 0 n says he personally thampton when Gen. Turner, killed or wounded 11 of the CUT OUT GRENADES things, they give them to who was in charge of Cana• enemy and took 25 prisoners. you," says Ray Zengel, 72, dian troops in England, called Coulson Mitchell, 77, Mont• He became sergeant-at- real, was a captain with the now a retu-ed farmer at for me to see him. So I went and saw him in his office, arms in the House of Com• 4th Battalion, Canadian Engi• Eocky Mountain House, Alta. mons in 1934 but left the post neers, when sent out near '"Dhat must be, because "I was in hospital blues at to go overseas again in the Cambrai to prevent German there were an awful lot of tihe time and had no ribbon or Second World War and re• demolition of a bridge. people who did a lot more anything. I never even had an turned to build a successful than me to deserve it." political career. With a sergeant and a sap• investitut-e. Well, he cut off per, he cut the circtdts link• He is among the 13 men his own ribbon and put it on Herman James Good, 78, a ing a chain of German gre• still living who won the Victo• me." retired farmer and woodsman nades along the bridge. ria Cross while in Canadian IN CAVALRY CHARGE in New Brunswick, recalls When Germans attacked, uniform during the First most vividly "the sight of World War. Some were inter• Retired Brigadier Freder• he and the sergeant, who won ick Harvey, 79, raises and your pals giving their lives a DCM, dashed up on the viewed as part of a Cross- before your very eyes." Survey by The Cana• trains horses south of river bank and began shout• dian Press. now and is a prominent Al- He was with the Quebec ing and shooting "to sound Like Zengel, they are as un• bertan. Regiment a corporal, when like a battalion." They killed ei^^t attackers derstated as the medal itself. He earned his VC March 27, he single-handedly stooned It is cast from the bronze of German positions Aug. 8, and also took prisoner 12 Ger-, 1917, in one of the last great mans under the bridge, Russian cannons captured cavafry charges, at Ferrone. 1918, after learning his broth• at Sebastopol in the Crimean er had been killed: at Amiens. "whom we hadn't noticed at War of the 1850s. Brig. Harvey was a lieuten• first." ant with the Lord Strathco- FOUGHT TANKS For more than a century, it Mitchell questions his VC na's Horse at the time. He His memories are of gore because, as he says, it wasn't has been Britain's highest rose to command of the decoration. Among the 65 Ca• and loss rather than ^ory the result of "instantaneous Strathconas in 1939. During and gam. He doesn't talk action." nadians to win it during he ttie Second World War, when 1914-18 war, 26 were killed in much about the war- "As an engineer, it took a his only son Dennis was killed lot of time. Seemed like a action. in action in Europe, he com• "Nobody is interested in VC winners any more," said Har- long time, really." REFUSE DETAILS manded Military District 13 He organized a cmpany of based at Calgary. cus Strachan, about 80, of Most of tho se who survive . e n g i n e e r s for the Second refused to "glorify" them• -Other prominent VCs from World War, served in Eng• selves by talking about their the First World War include "I dont blame them one land and became a lieuten• exploits Lieutenant-Governor George bit.". ant-colonel. Between wars he Zengel was a 23-y6ar-old Pearkes of , Veteran of both world wars, worked as a construction sergeant with the 2nd Bri• commander of the 1st Cana• he was a lieutenant with the manager for a major firm. dian Division in the 1939-45 Fort Garry Horse of Winni• gade, 5th Canadian Infantry TOOK OVER ATTACK Battalion, Regina, on winning war and later defence minis• peg when the Germans his in 1918. He says he was ter in the Diefenbaker admin- massed 400 tanks against Al• Robert Hanna, now 79, lives "blown up" on the Somme i s t r a t i 0 n, and Milton F. lied lines in in Sep• in Mount Lehman, B.C. He but not injured in the engage• Gregg, 75, now high commis• tember, 1917. resumed faiming and logging, ment that brought him the sioner in Guyana and labor The battle began in the aft• after the war and is still ac• VC. He won't go into details. mrinister ir. the St. Laurent ernoon and when it ended at tive. "I was playing a little bit of administration. 4 a.m. the next day, only 43 of He is taciturn about the his 150 men—some on horse• 1917 action at Lens, France, poker in the dugout when a HIT IN ATTACK runner came in and said I back—were alive. Strachan is that won him the VC. But his was wanted at headquarters. Maj.-Gen. Pearkes, 79, was on a disabled veteran's pen• citation notes that after his I didn't want to go because I wounded five times in the sion. officers were kiled, Sgt.-Maj., was winning a little bit of 1914-18 war. Among his recol• Also a win• Hanna rallied an attack and money. But I went and they lections of the VC action at ner, he says tlie VC didn't personally put an enemy nest told me J had won the VC. Passchendaele are the "ap• help him "one iota" in a out of action. Was I surprised!" palling casualties." post-war career in which he He was with the 29th Cana• The major problem about A company commander rose to become a successful dian Infantry. winning the VC, said Zengel, with the 51h Canadian Mount• banking executive. Robert Shankland, now ail• "is the people who are al• ed Rifles, he was hit in the "You can't eat VCs," he ing in a Vancouver hospital, ways trying to do things for thigh as his men went over said. "You can walk around was among the nine Cana• you, buy you drinks and so the trenches into heavy with a VC on your shirt but it dians to win a VC in fierce artillery and machine-gun won't help you set a job." action at Passchendaele in fire in a dawn attack. 1917. He was a lieutenant "You just take it out of the HOODWINKED ENEMY citation," ordered Alex Brere- "I had approximately 25 with the Canadian Infantry ton, 74, of Elnora, Alta., when men out of about 600 who had Charles Smith Rutherford, Battalion. asked how he won his VC at started," he recaDs. They 75, Keswick, Ont., a retired The wurds For Valour are Amiens in 1918. managed to hold a farm, dairy farmer, grocer and i n s c r i b e d on the Victoria though isolated,, until relieved postman, takes a humorous Cross. T!i3refore it was fitting WON'T TELL after dark the next evening. approach in talking about his that Pine Street, in a quiet "I've never told anyone yet Battle wounds left him par• VC. residential area of , and I don't intend to start tially disabled but he is in A lieutenant with the 5th was renamed in now," said Brereton, a re• good health and has no com• Canadian Mounted Rifles, he 1925. A single short block tired fM-mer. "I always say it plaints. became separated from his along this street produced was for drinking rum." He says the VC may have company and accidentally three VC winners in the 1914- He was an acting corporal helped his political career. walked into a crowd of Ger- 18 war. with the Little Black Devils, "When I was first elected it m a n s in Monchy-le-Preux, Two of them—Sgt. Freder• officially known as the 8th had some influence on my France. ick WilMam Hall and L. Sgt. Battalion, Winnipeg. success," he said. "Although In cool performance that Leo Clarke—were killed in "I don't think anyone who we're a democratic society, might have warrjurted an action. won it knew really what had people like some handle to Oscar, iie convinced them The only one to survive the happened," he said. "It's not youi- name. they were his prisoners by war was Shankland, who, in very clear snd you can't real• "I certainly never used it telling them they were sui-- charge of a small group of ly remember what you did or for advanicement—it was au• rounded. men, had captured a strate• were doing that they thought tomatic that it called atten• They dropped their arms gic ridge near Passchendaele you should win it. tion." and also quieted, at his or• and then stood off repeated "You know, I didn't even Milton Gregg, a mild-man- ders, a machine-tgun that was German counter-attacks. 21 of Canada's 102 VC Winners Are Alive (By the Canadian Press) Violent death is often the entry fee into the exclusive Victoria Cross club. Of 79 Canadians who won the decoration while serving with the Canadian armed forces during the First and Second World Wars, 34 were killed in action. Half the 16 Canadians to earn a VC during the Second World War died on the field. In addition to the 79, the award has been won by 23 Canadians serving with tiie British armed forces. The eight survivors among the Second World War reci• pients, plus 13 living First World War winners, today ELGIN VC - The late Ser• are an unobtrusive if exclu• geant Ellis WeUwood Sifton sive company, a Cross-Can• ada Survey by The Canadian of Elgin County is one of the Press shows. few Canadians to win the Vic• They carry lightly the covet• toria Cross. This greatest of ed decoration, inscribed For military honors was won by Valour. Sgt. Sifton for conspicuous "I just tell people I won it bravery and devotion to duty for drinking rum," says Alex dumg the Battle of Vimy Brereton, now 74, of Elnora, Ridge in France on April 9, Alta. 1917. Sgt.'^Sifton was son of the The official qualification is late Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Sifton "conspicuous bravery or de• votion to duty in the presence of Waliacetown and Dutton. He of ihe enemy." was killed in action. Some of the remaining 21 survivors were maimed in France, in 1918 during the earning the decoration but Battle of Amiens. none has used it as a crutch. The attacking British Though some have become cleaned out the enemy prominent, it doesn't appear trenches by going through to have been a factor in them from one to the other building a career. and it was Dinesen's job to go first. One exception is Lt.-Col. David V. Currie, 54, who in "I wasn't hit at all—it was 1960 became sergeant-at-arms extraordinary," he says. He in the House of Commons. won the French Croix-de- Guerre in the same action. SOUGHT HIM OUT "People expect me to be Parliament has thought it something extraordinary, fitting that the most illus• which I'm certainly not. They trious war heroes should hold think that because you've such posts and he was sought won the Victoria Cross, you out for the job. must te a special person. One of his predecessors was Milton F. Gregg, 75, who "But I feel it was partly ac• earned his VC in the First cidental. You know, tliere World War. Until recently, he were other men there all the was high commissioner to time and some of the others Guyana, an appointment that were hit and died and yet you followed a successful political get the medal and they get career. nothing." Perhaps the most promi• H e travelled extensively nent is Lieutenant-Governor after the war, became a pros• •?oroe Pearkes of British Co- perous farmer and has wit- I lumbia, a defence irifflster in ten abOTM his waitime experi• the Diefenbaker administra- ences. tion. He earned the VC while He looks upon Canada as amassing five wounds m the h's "second home," helped First World War and went on form a Danish-Canadian asso• to become commander of the ciation, and now lives in re• 1st Division during the Sec• tirement on a 1,400-acre farm ond World War. in . He keeps active• ly in touch with VCs in Can• Gen. Pearkes, now 79, says ada. the VC may have helped him politically. However, it was FOUGHT WITH SCOTTISH hardly more than a high point Metcalfe, born at Tal- in a long successful military madge. Me., joined up at career. Fredericton in 1914 and Like the mechanics, minis• fought with the 16th Canadian BAY ZENGEL ters, businessmen, ranchers Scottish. and farmers \7ho won it, he earned his post-war way. On foot, he guided a tank The 21 survivors include through hea\ machine-gun American Will'am H. Met• fire to enemy trenches at calfe, 73, of South Portland, Arras. He then mopped up a Me., and Dane Thomas Dine- series of machine-gun nests sen, 74, of Grejsdal, Den• alone to earn his VC. mark. Metcalfe, a retired mechan• SERVED FOR CANADA ic, struggled hard to raise his four children during the Both won the VC while in Depression and only last year Canadian uniform during the was given a $100 monthly First World War. Their post• pension from Canada—about war lives are indicative of $92 in U.S. money. those of the others. Dinesen wound up with the As an American citizen, he Black Watch in Montreal was unable to receive mili• after trying to join the tary benefits from either French, British and American country before that, so the armies. VC didn't mean much in He earned the VC in 10 practical terms. hours of hand-to-hand trench Nov/ ailing and deaf, he and COULSON MITCHELL fighting at Parvilliers, his wife are getting by in South Portland with the pen• sion and U.S. social security. He rarely talks about the Mass Shooting Frays VC but likes to reminisce about his Canadian buddies and see them when he can. Kill 34 in W. Mexico "People forget as the years MEXICO CITY (Reuters)— ciation meeting erupted into a go by," said Mrs. Metcalfe, answering questions for her Mass shooting affrays In the gunbattle. Eight pei'sons were deaf husband in a telephone lawless West Mexico state of killed, among them a woman inter\dew. Guerrero, known as the Wild and a policeman called to inter• BISHOP A LEGEND West, resulted in 34 kilMngs vene in a petty squabble over None of the Canadian air• dui'ing a five-week period be• the fitness of the village school• men or seamen who won the tween May and June of this mistress ^0 teach the children. VC is aUve but their names J year. SETTLE WITH BULLETS must rank with the best in the company of 1,345 who \The region includes the so• At Tlaxacachipa, the Busta- have won the decoration in phisticated playboy resoi't of mante and the Cervantes fami• the last 113 years. Acapulco But few of the thou• lies decided to settle a long• There is the late Billy Bish• sands of tourists who flock standing vendetta with bullets, op of Owen Sound, Ont., a there each year are aware that and one faction set fire to a First World War flying ace the mountain hinterland har• thatched hut in which the oth• who shot down 72 enemy bors bandiiS, cattle-rustlers and ers were besieged. Guerrero po• planes and two balloons. His exploits are legendary. private bands of gunmen ready lice counted 14 dead and 15 ui- He oecame an air marshal to trade bullets with anyone jm'ed. during the Second World War, who crosses their path. In addition to spectacular when names like Andy My- Apart from this unchecked gunfights, killings both casual n a r s k i and Robert Gray shone. banditry, Guerrero state has a and plaimed go on in Guerrero Lieut. Gray, from Nelson, tradition of bloody family feuds state at a rate estimated at no in which each atrocity is met B.C., planned to become a by another massacre. fewer than 50 a month. doctor. He piloted his flaming Miu-der is something of a na• aircraft until he could bomb a On May 12, for example, a tional sport in Mexico. Figures Japanese destroyer at point- wedding feast at Los Nopales, published by the ministry of blank range. He died in the 60 nules from Acapulco, be• health and welfare showed attack. came bedlam when feuding murders accounted for 8,231 guests drew their guns, leaving PO Mynarski, a Winnipeg deaths among Mexicans in 1965 man, died of burns suffered five dead and three seriously and 1966, a monthly average of injured. trying to rescue a rear gun• 343. Guerrero state, one of the ner—v/ho survived to tell the Five days later at nearby 30 states in the republic, ac• tale—in a doomed Lancaster Atoyac a Parent-Teachers Asso• counted for the lion's share. over Cambrai, France.