Canadian Unknown Soldier

[Les]

Last Updated: Monday, March 5, 2007 | 10:37 PM ET
CBC News

Canada wants to honour the Unknown Soldier with the Victoria Cross medal, but veterans are opposed to the idea.

The Victoria Cross is supposed to honour the absolute highest acts of military bravery, veterans say, but there are no records about the Unknown Soldier and the type of service he provided in the First World War.

The anonymous soldier's remains were buried in a stately tomb in Ottawa in 2000 to represent all Canadians who give their life in battle.

The medal, created in the 1856 by Queen Victoria, has been awarded to 1,350 soldiers, including 94 Canadians. The last time it went to a Canadian was in 1945.

Federal government sources, speaking anonymously to various media outlets this week, said the government plans to revive the Victoria Cross and the first recipient will be the Unknown Soldier.

The Globe and Mail reported Saturday that the medal, with a special Canadian design, will be presented to Prime Minister Stephen Harper by Queen Elizabeth at a ceremony in France in April. Harper will bring the medal back to Canada.

But the Canadian Legion said the Unknown Soldier is supposed to represent all veterans, not singled out with such a high award.

"As veterans will tell you, he is one of us," Butt said of the Unknown Soldier. "He's one of the people that donned the uniform. [He] went over, not for glory, not for medals, not for honours and awards.

Decision called misguided
The National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada agrees. The organization has written a letter to Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean urging her to stop the cross from being awarded.

Butt said the government is trying to honour veterans with this latest move, but it is misguided.

"Everybody wants to honour veterans, and sometimes the way that they honour them is not exactly the way veterans themselves want to be honoured," he said.

The Victoria Cross has sometimes been criticized as being too British an award. It was not part of the new Canadian military honour system developed in 1972.

In 1993, the Queen approved the establishment of a Canadian Victoria Cross. The Globe reported Saturday that the Canadian version, which is designed and produced in Canada, will be the one awarded to the Unknown Soldier.
Source : www.cbc.ca

[Les]

HEAVILY EDITED!!!!

I've decided to remove my comments from here as one or two people have taken umbridged.... more to do with the wording than the sentiment!

Les.

[anthony]

The name of the Victoria Cross for Canada (VCFC) honours the original Victoria Cross but is a purely Canadian award governed by Canadian regulations with a unique Canadian design and I believe Canadian manufacture. The CBC News report of Monday, 5 March 2007, above, stated that there was opposition to the proposal to award the VCFC to the Canadian World War 1 Unknown Soldier. I understand that it was not presented at the 90th anniversary commemorations at Vimy Ridge in April 2007. Does anyone know if the VCFC was ever manufactured and where it is now?

[roberthenry]

Anthony (Staunton I presume)

I recall about this time last year just before the 90th celebrations at Vimy Ridge when all the opposition to the award was being voiced, the Canadian chancellor whos name I cannot recall stated that a Canadian Victoria Cross had been manufactured, but I have no idea where it is now.
Previous to that a newspaper report suggested that the Victoria Cross would be struck by the Canadian Royal Mint although they did not know what kind of metal was to be used, but that it would definately would not be sourced from the British.

[anthony]

A physical copy of the Canadian substitute for the Victoria Cross, the Victoria Cross for Canada was made public by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean, Governor General and Commander in Chief of Canada on Friday, 16 May 2008 at Rideau Hall, Ottawa. The Canadian Prime Minister jointly unveiled the medal with the Governor General.

The design of the Victoria Cross for Canada differs from the Victoria Cross by the addition of fleurs de lis to thistle, shamrock and rose and changing the English inscription ‘For Valour’ to the Latin ‘Pro Valore’. The alloy used for the new Canadian medal is a blend of various components including metal from the Victoria Cross, copper from the 1867 Canadian Confederation Medal and metals from every region across Canada. It was created by experts from Natural Resources Canada. A sketch was produced by a Canadian Chancellery artist and a Royal Canadian Mint engraver designed the moulds. The smelt produced 65 kilograms of ingots, which have been locked away and which will provide the raw material for the cross. A batch of 20 crosses has been produced.

Letters Patent for the Victoria Cross for Canada were signed on 2 February 1993. The design was unveiled to the media in 2004 and an image appeared on a Canadian postage stamp later that year. Preparations commenced for the production of a physical copy in 2006 and a sample was struck in mid 2007. It is assumed that the date of 16 May 2008 to unveil the physical copy was selected for convenience since no other reason has been revealed.

[anthony]

Oops. When rereading this old post I noticed that in 2008 I incorrectly described the 'Canadian Victoria Cross' as the 'Victoria Cross for Canada'. I applaud Canada for the name of its award, its significant design changes to the scroll and for its original composition of the Canadian VC metal. The VCFA and VCFNZ use the same design and metal as the British VC which seems to confuse some British into lumping together the four VCFA awards and the one VCNFZ award for a total of 1363 British VC awards. The correct total of British VC awards is 1358 including three bars.