Living Victoris Cross Recipients.......

Here is a list of all known living recipiente of the Victoria Cross, as I know it. I believe one or two might have passed away since I compiled this list last year.

VICTORIA CROSS LIVING RECIPIENTS:

Rai Agansing 1944, Bishenpur, Burma.

Richard Wallace Annand 1940 River Dyal, Belgium.

Ghrung Bhanbhagta 1945 Tamandu, Burma.

Ram Bhandari 1944 Arakan, Burma.

Edward Thomas Chapman 1945 Dortmund-Ems Canal, Germany.

John Alexander Cruikshank 1944 Atlantic, Ocean.

Arthur Roden Cutler 1941 Merdjayoun-Damour, Syria.

Ian Edward fraser 1945 Johore Straits, Singapore.

Ghale Gaje 1943 Chin Hills, Burma.

Lama Ganju 1944 Ninghoukhong, Burma.

Philip John Gardner 1941 Tobruk, Libya.

Thomas William Gould 1942 Crete, Mediterranean.

David Auldgo Jamieson 1944 Grimbosq, France.

Edward Kenna 1945 Wewak, New Guinea.

John Patrick Kenneally 1943 Dj Arada, Tunisia.

Gurung Lachhiman 1945 Taungdaw, Burma.

Charles Cecil Ingersoll Merritt 1942 Dieppe, France.

Gerard Ross Norton 1944 Monte Gidolfo, Italy.

Keith Payne 1969 Ben Het, Vietnam (I know, he's not a WW2 Recipient but he is part of the equasion).

Patrick Anthony Porteous 1942 Dieppe, France.

Limbu Rambahadur 1965 Sarawak, Borneo

William Reid 1943 Dusseldorf, Germany.

Ernest Alvia (Smokey) Smith 1944 Savio River, Italy.

William Speakman 1951 Korea.

Pun Tulbahadur 1944 Mogaung, Burma.

Singh Umrao 1944 Kaladan Valley, Burma.

Tasker Watkins 1944 Barfour, France.

Eric Charles Twelves Wilson 1940 Observation Hill, Somaliland.

Hope this is of some interests for our U.K. Friends.......

 

Thats interesting, where did you get this info at? Im damn amazed at your postings...

 

Thanks, actually I got this info from R.A.F. Squadron Leader Doug Tidy, he deserves all the credit on what I will eventually post here that is on the Victora Cross Recipients.

 

Thanks for including Keith Payne VC. He deserves to be listed.

 

Thanks for posting that Carl, unfortuatly we lost our last VC winner, Jack Hinton, in 1996.

 

Sad to say that both Bill Reid and Ted Chapman have passed away during the last year.

 

We've lost Arthur Roden Cutler VC in the last year also don't forget.

 

Carl,

As far as i know only 16 VC Winners remain alive today,i'll check the exact figure.

One of those is my friend Capt Dick Annand who is still going strong at 88yrs old.I visited him about two weeks ago the day before his Birthday and he was fine,the Gentleman he always is.He was also on parade at the Rememberance day service laying a wreath etc.His wife Shirley is 88 this week and is the oldest playing member of one of the local tennis clubs!!!!

Paul

 

Thank you guys--glad to see some interest in this thread.

Paul--thank you very VERY much for the additional info on the Captain--im glad he is doing very fine and will be sending them a card for Christmas. AND

WOW! She still plays tennis--WOW! When next you have a chance to talk to them--please send them my best regards will you.
I still have their Christmas card from last year and have all of Remys and Joannas from 1999.

Hmmmm--more thinking here on my part, when I FINALLY make my move (hopefully by the 1st week in January) I think i'll dig out all the christmas cards I got from the vets and maybe make copies for Otto to possibly post. What do you think?

 

I have one question. What about members of Britains specal forces. Would they appear on any list. If they don't we could have a few more.

 

Hi Bish--I had heard that they arent mentioned because they are Special Forces. Other than that--I dunno.

 

If you are talking about UK Special Forces in WW2, then their details have long since been de-classified and details of VC winners to these units long since been published. So the list will be 'complete' in that respect.

 

Don't / Didn't get all (big) medal winners get announced in the London Gazette or something? A while back there was some upset about the names being published by the LG of those SAS guys that won the MoH in Afganistan. (BTW did anybody read the report of the Austrian film crew that was also present at the prison rising in afganistan on how those SAS and US SF guys won their medals?)

Would this mentioning of names in the LG also have taken place for British SF forces in WW2?

 

Yes, but like now SAS,SBS etc personnel came from a parent regiment, and when an award was listed to a soldier still serving, only his parent regiment was shown - no details about being attached to SAS etc.

You may know yourself Stevin that at Jonkebos Cemetery in Nijmegen, there are several SAS men - some of them have the SAS badge on their grave, others their parentn unit (Royal Engineers etc etc).

 

Thanks Sommecourt. I didn't know about the parent regiment being mentioned instead of their current operational regiment. I did know about the two at Jonkerbos. Recently I also looked into a capt. of the Artists Rifles that is buried in Born. Thought the Artists Rifles were part of the SAS at the time. Commenwealth War Graves Commission has him with the Rifle Batt. Was wrong, but anther example of a 'different' regiment on his marker than he was operational with at the time.

Appreciate the reply.

Stevin

 

C. Evans!
Did you send copies of those Christmas cards to Otto?
I have tried to find them, but in vain.

Best regards / Mats

 

Albert asked that I check on Keith Payne. Glad to see his name here.He says he will notify Keith and we are appreciative of his efforts..Albert goes on about all that Keith has done....Amazing fellow apparently. Possibly Keith won VC, Korean medals [silver or bronze}...Vietnam - vets who serve under auspices of Australian Gov... U.S declarations possibly 3? distinguished service cross, silver/bronze star? Possibly 16- medals awarded to Keith?...Albert has a Victorian Cross Association membership. ..He says there is a piece coming up in the VCA paper about the first woman to be awarded Victoria Cross made in gold. Mrs Webber Harris.

 

Keith Payne won his VC in Vietnam. He also served in Korea. Notably, he received the VC, Distinguished Service Cross (the American medal one tier below the MoH) and the Silver Star (American medal two tiers below the MoH). He has a total of 24 medals (if you count the "commemorative" Jubilee medals). Can you ask Albert how he knows Keith -- he's a very interesting fellow and I'm sure he has a lot of stories to tell.

 

By the way, here is the updated list of living VC recipients. Carl's list is almost 12 years old, and most of the people on it have passed away.

WW2:

John A Cruickshank (1944, RAF)

Korea:

William Speakman (1951, Black Watch)

Indonesian Confrontation:

Rambahadur Limbu (1965, Gurkhas)

Vietnam:

Keith Payne (1969, AATTV)

This list is only for "Imperial" VC holders (ie: the original medal from Great Britain). In recent years, several commonwealth countries have come out with their own versions that have replaced the "Imperial" VC in their respective militaries. There are two Australians who recieved the "Victoria Cross for Australia" during the War in Afghanistan.

 

Albert was unable to find the correspondence With Mr. Payne. He will continue looking [ he has a LOT of stuff ]...He also said KP had 17 medals. Showed me a picture, but I can only count this many *holds both hands up*...Will ask about the Jubilee's.