[TR] Maybe the last lunch

[David Friedlander]

Great story, Andrew! Thank wand Merry Christmas to all!!!

Dave

On Sun, Dec 24, 2023 at 8:58 AM auprichard uprichard.net <
auprichard at uprichard.net> wrote:

> On Christmas Eve I thought I'd share my Victoria Cross story.  DISCLAIMER
> - it has a strong Christian theme.  Don't open it if you are going to be
> offended.
>
> Andrew Uprichard
> Jackson, Michigan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Triumphs <triumphs-bounces at autox.team.net> On Behalf Of Dave MacKay
> Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2023 7:19 PM
> To: triumphs at autox.team.net
> Cc: johnbmacartney at gmx.com
> Subject: Re: [TR] Maybe the last lunch
>
> 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
> ** triumphs at autox.team.net **
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