Post by Trotxâ on Jun 28, 2006 18:30:46 GMT -6
VC heroes mark 150 years of selfless bravery
By Ben Fenton
(Filed: 27/06/2006)
More than 2,000 people gathered at Westminster Abbey yesterday to celebrate the human qualities of courage, self-sacrifice and modesty.
 Holders of the Victoria Cross Surviving holders of the VC ranged in age from 89 to 26 |
The Prince of Wales led the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Victoria Cross, with eight of the surviving 12 holders of Britain's highest gallantry award given pride of place near the altar.
Ranging in age from 89 to 26, these special men all said that they merely represented the 1,343 other VCs who had died, either in the act of winning the medal, or since.
"We are just the ones fortunate enough to be recognised in this way, and who are still here," Sir Tasker Watkins, VC, said as he waited for the ceremony to begin.
A diminutive figure and an eminent judge who rose to become Deputy Chief Justice of England, Sir Tasker, 89, won his medal as a lieutenant of the 1/5th Bn, Welch Regiment in 1944 during the battle to close the Falaise Gap, leading his decimated platoon in repeated bayonet charges.
Next to him stood the ramrod figure of Pte Johnson Beharry, 26, scars still visible in his close-cropped hair.
Pte Beharry became the first man to be awarded the VC in 20 years when he was gazetted in 2005 for rescuing colleagues under fire, despite suffering heavy wounds at al-Amarah, Iraq, in 2004.
"It is wonderful for me to be able to listen to the stories of these men," he said, gesturing to the collection of stooped but fiercely proud figures who were busy renewing old comradeships all around him.
"Every man's actions were different and some don't like to talk about them much, but they all say the same thing: they didn't do it on their own," said the Grenada-born soldier who is receiving treatment for wounds he received with the Princess of Wales' Royal Regt.
"I couldn't have done what I did without my boys. I am just sad that they are out there now and I am still here."
The ceremony commemorated the work of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association, founded 50 years ago on the centenary of the first VC's award.
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