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PVCs
Dec 16, 2013 21:07:30 GMT
Post by David Cochrane on Dec 16, 2013 21:07:30 GMT
Strictly speaking this isn't about the VC, but if the Indian government hadn't changed the name of their top decoration (and the Australians or New Zealanders had), we would be talking about the PVC recipients here and not the recent Australian VCs. Certainly the standard for the award appears comparable to the VC.
Anyway, I've been checking for the original Indian Gazette announcements but only two of them appear to be 'findable' on their website (Piru Singh & Rama Raghoba Rane, both from 1948).
I realize that one can find accounts of their deeds elsewhere, but the citations that other sites show don't quite match what I've found on the Gazette. Is the digitization effort incomplete, or is the search function just poor?
I've even used the reference numbers for the Gazette announcements but still come up with squat, except in the two cases I mentioned above.
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PVCs
Dec 17, 2013 23:26:16 GMT
Post by anthony on Dec 17, 2013 23:26:16 GMT
If it is good enough to mention some Commonwealth countries such as Australia and New Zealand that have changed the name of their top decoration then it is good enough to mention the top decoration of all Commonwealth countries with their own national honours systems. Although some, mainly small, Commonwealth countries still use the British honours system not one of these countries in the past has ever been awarded the Victoria Cross and is unlikely to be awarded one in the future. So today it is more accurate to say the Victoria Cross is the highest award of the British honours system. The Empire and the Commonwealth are part of the historical past.
Somewhere I have the citations at least until 1971. Not sure where they are but remind me in the New Year.
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PVCs
Dec 18, 2013 2:31:42 GMT
Post by David Cochrane on Dec 18, 2013 2:31:42 GMT
Excellent - I shall.
The only ones I've found on the Gazette's own site were 2/Lt Rane and CHM Piru Singh, both from 1948. Like I said, I'm not sure if the site's search function is poor or if the digitization is incomplete. I even have the reference numbers for every citation but still no luck.
I actually started checking up on these because of the comments you'd made about the Australian & NZ VCs and how they ought not to be included in the grand total. If those nations (or Canada) had changed the name of their top award, as some had wanted, nobody would even think of including them; however, India did and so the PVC recipients are never mentioned with VCs, even though the standard for the award appears to be comparable.
Given the VC-level standards and India's commonwealth heritage, why not discuss these awards on this site too?
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PVCs
Jan 11, 2014 3:31:45 GMT
Post by David Cochrane on Jan 11, 2014 3:31:45 GMT
Somewhere I have the citations at least until 1971. Not sure where they are but remind me in the New Year. Have you unearthed them? Many thanks if you have. |
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PVCs
Jan 25, 2014 9:56:26 GMT
Post by anthony on Jan 25, 2014 9:56:26 GMT
No luck yet but I have found several interesting things that I have not seen for years.
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PVCs
Oct 19, 2014 23:48:27 GMT
Post by David Cochrane on Oct 19, 2014 23:48:27 GMT
1972.01.29 - Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon -- Hos....pdf (283.88 KB) Not sure if the Gazette site is expanding its collection or the search function is getting a bit better, but a few days ago found a copy of their January 1972 announcement covering four more awards. I re-checked all the missing announcements to see if they were findable yet, but still no luck - not even the ones from 1999. This brings the total number of PVC citations on the Gazette website to only six, but at least more are available now. Hopefully the rest will surface before too long . .
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PVCs
Oct 22, 2014 8:00:23 GMT
Post by anthony on Oct 22, 2014 8:00:23 GMT
Not sure if the Gazette site is expanding its collection or the search function is getting a bit better, but a few days ago found a copy of their January 1972 announcement covering four more awards. I re-checked all the missing announcements to see if they were findable yet, but still no luck - not even the ones from 1999. This brings the total number of PVC citations on the Gazette website to only six, but at least more are available now. Hopefully the rest will surface before too long . . Excellent work David. |
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PVCs
Nov 7, 2014 21:31:47 GMT
Post by David Cochrane on Nov 7, 2014 21:31:47 GMT
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PVCs
Nov 12, 2014 3:15:47 GMT
Post by David Cochrane on Nov 12, 2014 3:15:47 GMT
Have found six more awards - Nk Jadunath Singh, Maj Shaitan Singh, CQMH Abdul Hamid, Lt-Col Ardeshir Burzorji Tarapore, Nb Sub Bana Singh & Major Ramaswany Parameswaran. All that are missing now are the first two (Maj Somnath Sharma & L/Nk Karam Singh), two from late 1962 (Maj Dhan Singh Thapa & Sub Joginder Singh) and the last four from the Kargil campaign. |
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PVCs
Nov 12, 2014 3:17:09 GMT
Post by David Cochrane on Nov 12, 2014 3:17:09 GMT
Here are the ones from 1987 too (damn three-file limit per post!). |
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PVCs
Nov 12, 2014 11:08:26 GMT
Post by David Cochrane on Nov 12, 2014 11:08:26 GMT
As the Gazette dates I've found elsewhere have been frequently unreliable, does anyone have the exact dates for when the announcements for the other eight were actually published?
This might help in finding the rest if indeed they've actually been put up yet.
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PVCs
Dec 27, 2014 4:40:32 GMT
Post by David Cochrane on Dec 27, 2014 4:40:32 GMT
As I've put up a GC file, I might as well add the Indian version too, the AC. I've found Gazette citations for thirty-six of these, with thirty or so left. Unlike the PVC, there doesn't seem to be a full comprehensive list of ACs; the Wikipedia list isn't bad, but it doesn't include civilian recipients. I expect that most of the awards were made in late January of their respective years (like the PVCs), but the digitization of the Indian Gazette doesn't seem complete yet - even the 2000 announcements of the Kargil PVCs and the 1950 announcements of the first PVCs are still missing. At any rate, here are the first four ACs (more to follow): |
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PVCs
Dec 27, 2014 4:41:11 GMT
Post by David Cochrane on Dec 27, 2014 4:41:11 GMT
Now comes 1956-1958 (five more): |
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Post by David Cochrane on Dec 27, 2014 4:42:21 GMT
1962-1968 (eight, including six civilians): |
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PVCs
Dec 27, 2014 4:43:58 GMT
Post by David Cochrane on Dec 27, 2014 4:43:58 GMT
I think I've got all the ACs from 1952 to 1972; after that it gets patchier. There were five given for Blue Star (four posthumously), but I've yet to track those down. Here are ones from 1969-1972 (three), and 1984 (the astronauts): |
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