V.C. DIAMOND JUBILEE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 185, 23 June 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

V.C. DIAMOND JUBILEE.

STILL THE MOST-COVEIED DECORATION. It lias been said that up to lbis(3 no English Sovereign ever decorated an Englishman for being urave. Even at that time France had her Legion ol Honour, and Queen Victoria r.< ted the anomaly of th,e two nations fighting side by side in the Crimea— ihe one possessing a highly-coveted i.\ coration and the other nothing. On January 29th, 18-10, slm instituted by Royal Warrant the Order of tho Victoria Cross "for soldiers and sailors of any rank for a supreme act of bravery in the presence of the enemy." Thus it will be sivm that the Diamond Jubilee of the V.C. has arrive.l, finding this great distinction as youn; in spirit as ever, as greatly coveted, as highly honoured. I\ is sometimes said thai the V C. is bestowed too liberally, ivol though only one is given for every 000 Iron Crosses, but it might be recalled that one of the most interesting public appearances Queen Victoria ever made was wlmn. in Hyde Park, eighteen months after its institution, and heiera vast crowd, the .ureal Queen fastened with her own band., the decoration on the breasl: of sixty-one Critm'iin heroes of ail ranks ami aims. Si 'olio has trulv said : "The Victoria Cio- stand, a- a -\mb ,1 of the hiirhesl that n m ill ■ ■ a n an < an attain ; it phi'-es the le-nl and the «.■ ner.ais impulse-, ~f a ; l limn on , ■ ommon level and the word \ l-<o- Vnh or.' are as dear to ihe nub]., did- - ■■ In Ihe Lamm: I"' I I'- ■■ -ill " h'i r i.,-,1 ; ,1,-e■■'.! willmi,! I arnim; Is pe ilou . Cmifm-ius.