Gallantry Ignored

[The Oberon]

Originally Posted by Tankertrashnav

I was on a parade at Catterick around 1965 when a chap got the BEM for gallantry. I am not sure if this was the same chap but I think his name was Hobbs. One incident I definitely remember, in those pre-velcro days the AOC did not pin the medal on securely, and as the airman saluted and did a smart about turn the medal flew off his chest and skidded across the hangar floor! Incidentally there were 19 MMs for Aden between 1964 - 1968 and whilst I do not know of any awarded to RAF Regiment personnel, I certainly knew a Sqn Ldr B.P.Coote, MC, RAF Regiment who had won his medal in Aden.

Turning to the DFC/DFM and their relative scarcity, including first and second bars there were almost 23,000 awards of the DFC during WW2, making it the commonest gallantry award for that conflict by a country mile, across all three services. The equivalent figure for the DFM is just under 6,700, less than a third of the total DFCs. In spite of this, from my own experience in the medal trade groups containing the DFC always attract a premium over similar DFM groups. Why this should be so I have never quite understood, but there you are, that's the way it is.



Without wishing to denigrate your service, as I am sure your SAM was well deserved, that is factually incorrect. SAMs with rosettes always fetch more on the market than those without, When valuing medals, scarcity is never as important as desirabilty. The best example I can think of is the Victoria Cross which is 10 times commoner than the George Cross, but will always sell for far more money

Thanks TTN, that's good to know. All I have to do now is find the thing.

[Wander00]

Grandfather of a friend was nav/bomb aimer in Wg Cdr HG Malcolm's crew. Those two and the gunner were killed, Malcolm won the VC, but the others' gallantry was unrecognised by any medal.

[Tankertrashnav]

Originally Posted by Wander00

Grandfather of a friend was nav/bomb aimer in Wg Cdr HG Malcolm's crew. Those two and the gunner were killed, Malcolm won the VC, but the others' gallantry was unrecognised by any medal.

At the time the only gallantry medal which could be awarded posthumously was the Victoria Cross. I have seen reference to posthumous DFCs, etc, but these can only refer to awards which were recommended for an individual who was still alive but who subsequently died before the actual medal was presented. An MID could be awarded posthumously but I have no information if this was the case in this incident. The Falklands War was the first major conflict for which gallantry medals other than the VC were awarded posthumously.

Incidentally doing a bit of background reading on this operation, which can best be described as a suicide mission, I discovered that Lady Tedder named the Malcolm Clubs after Hugh Malcolm, a fact that had previously passed me by.

[Old-Duffer]

...... and of course Lady Tedder was killed in an air crash in front of her husband, when she was returning with others from a tour visiting the troops.

Tedder subsequently married a divorced lady, whose son joined the RAF and was killed in a flying accident at Cranwell in 1950 (?).

O-D

[orca]

Is there a similar pattern of recognition/ lack of it in services that don’t insist that the pilot is captain of the aircraft?

[wokkamate]

Tony Davey (Chinook crewman) got an AFC in 2010.

[orca]

There is a chance that time and red wine have had their effect - but when I guested with ‘the other bunch’ in 2003 the XO of HMS Invincible was an observer - and wore a cross of some description from the Lynx actions fought in GW1.

[alfred_the_great]

DFC. And he was bat**** crazy.

[Wander00]

Malcolm led his squadron to carry out the attack without the planned fighter escort, because of the importance of the mission