[TR] Maybe the last lunch

[John Macartney]

Dave, I can’t tell you any more about the three men I mentioned because I only knew them “in passing” and I saw the man in the Sales block far more than the other two. The sales guy I saw daily and often more than once, but my work took me only very occasionally to Engineering and the Director block where the other two were to be found.
I can’t argue with the data you’ve uncovered and I don’t intend to. All I can say is the VC ribbon is a deep maroon in colour and I believe is usually located closest to the heart and on the top row if medal ribbons amount to more than one row. This is where I remember seeing the ribbon on those men. Now there is always the possibility that a VC ribbon might be mistaken for some other decoration of prestige but that said, a lot of the much older men I worked with who had been in WW2, recognised those pieces of maroon material as VCs and occasionally mentioned them in hushed tones. 
I also recall an overseas visitor coming to collect a new car on one occasion, looking at the Sales block Commissionaire and saying in a rather loud voice, “say, that’s an interesting collection of ribbons ya got there. What are they and how did you get ‘em?” Quick as a flash, one of my older ex service colleagues jumped in and said, “Sir, Sergeant (name) military decorations worn by serving or retired members of His Majesty’s armed services are absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with you, nor is the need for you to know anything further on why they were awarded!”
The man looked more than a little non-plussed and feebly commented such restrictions didn’t apply in his country to which response “well, they do here! I feel you owe this gentleman an apology - and now!”
So, in the final analysis, your research has failed to confirm the existence of the men to whom I refer which is okay. The flip side is not only myself but many others with services background and WW1 and WW2 memories remember them with respect and I dare say no small amount of fondness for who they were and what they may have done.
Happy Christmas everyone

Jonmac

> On 24 Dec 2023, at 00:18, Dave MacKay <dave at mdmackay.ca> wrote:
> 
> Jonmac:
> 
> Tell us more about those amazing men. They deserve all praise.
> 
> However, I think some of the particulars may be a little hazy. There were
> only 628 VCs awarded in WW1 and far fewer --- just 181 --- were awarded in
> WW2.  Only three men have ever won the VC twice: 2 were surgeons (Arthur
> Martin-Leake and Noel Chavasse) and one (Charles Hazlitt Upham) was a
> soldier from New Zealand.
>   - Chavasse won his first VC during the Boer War. He was killed at
> Passchendaele during the action that won him his second VC.
>   - Martin-Leake won the VC and Bar in WW1. He died in England in 1953.
>   - Upham won his VC and Bar in WW2 and returned to NZ after the war.
> 
> The men you met were undoubtedly heroes, but perhaps had not won such
> rarified medals.
> 
> Best wishes to all.
> 
> Dave MacKay
> 1960 TR3A s/n 68639L
> Near Toronto, Canada
> 
>> Message: 14
>> Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2023 15:15:35 +0000
>> From: John Macartney <johnbmacartney at gmx.com>
>> To: Jim Henningsen <trguy75 at gmail.com>
>> Cc: triumphs at autox.team.net
>> Subject: Re: [TR] Maybe the last lunch
>> Message-ID: <F3A049BE-87D9-4F13-91A7-1BF15EBBA839 at gmx.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=utf-8
>> 
>> Jim, very many thanks for your kind words. The Sir John Black policy of
> recruiting vets affected all services, not just the RAF in isolation. We
> have in the UK an organisation called the Corps of Commissionaires. The
> Corps is made up of mostly Serjeants, Colour >Sergeants and Sergeants
> Major. They provide reception services to large companies as they have
> their own uniforms and they?re always incredibly smart. We had these men
> at all reception points throughout the company in the UK, and in
> accordance with >the John Black directive issued at the beginning of WW2,
> if any ex employee was later re-employed through honourable discharge,
> their retirement age would be when they wanted to leave and not at age 65.
> 
>> We had three Commissionaires in key locations in Coventry and all of them
> were in their late seventies. They were always scrupulously polite,
> immaculate in their uniforms and charming conversationalists. I used to
> talk to all of them as I was able and apart >from the pleasure of having a
> chat, it was an opportunity to study their medal ribbons. All three men
> had won the Victoria Cross, our highest award for bravery and the man who
> worked the Sales Block reception desk had won it twice! But between all of
>> them, anyone with the knowledge of medal ribbons could see they proudly
> wore the Victoria Cross, the Mons Star, the Distinguished Service Order,
> the Gallipoli medal and the Military Cross, plus the various other general
> service and victory medals aka >Pipsqueak and Wilfred. All those men had
> done WW1 from start to finish in the desert, in Greece, at sea and the
> horrors of trench warfare in France and Belgium. They were always very
> quiet but never a day passed without a nod of the head,
>> a smile or a friendly greeting. The thing I remember about all of them
> was that even after a brief conversation on any subject, you parted
> company feeling better for having spoken to them. They were true gentlemen
> who had somehow survived the >nightmares of close quarter engagement on
> many occasions and amazingly had not been sent mad through what they had
> seen or done. Those are the people I remember and respect the most.
>> 
>> Jonmac