- Reaction score
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- Points
- 160
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I find this very bizarre in view of the British Prime Minister (Blair) not endorsing the award of two VCs to SAS soldiers for Afghanistan!
Yours,
Jock in SYdney
May 12, 2002 The Times (of London)
SAS heroes may get jubilee VCs
James Clark and Alastair McQueen
FOR the first time army chiefs are to ask the Queen to upgrade military
honours given to two SAS soldiers. They want the men to be awarded the
Victoria Cross, Britain‘s highest award for gallantry. The men‘s exploits,
one in the Falklands and the other in the "secret war" in Oman in the 1970s,
have passed into the elite regiment‘s history.
Although both were recommended for the VC, neither received the medal.
Senior military figures believe their membership of the secretive force
counted against them, and in an unprecedented move will ask the Queen to
mark her jubilee by making the awards.
Captain John Hamilton, 29, was the only SAS soldier to be killed in action
in the 1982 conflict with Argentina. He and another SAS man, signaller Roy
Fonseca, were ambushed by Argentine commandos on a hill above Bold Cove,
where 700 Argentinians were based.
Despite being outnumbered, Hamilton fought the Argentine troops for 15
minutes, being hit three times in an unsuccessful attempt to let Fonseca
escape. The Argentine officer in charge, Lieutenant Jose Duarte, was so
moved by Hamilton‘s bravery that he buried him with military honours and
later made sure senior British officers knew what the SAS soldier had done.
Hamilton was awarded a posthumous Military Cross. At the time the Queen
presented the medal to Hamilton‘s widow, she told her: "He earned this six
times over. I am only sorry I am not giving you something higher."
The second SAS man the Queen is to be asked to award a VC to was responsible
for one of the regiment‘s best-known acts of heroism, but was only mentioned
in dispatches because politicians thought awarding him a VC would draw
attention to the undercover war against communists in Oman.
Sergeant Talaiasi Labalaba, a Fijian, died after single-handedly holding off
a force of 400 communist insurgents during the battle of Mirbat in 1972.
During the battle Labalaba saw the three-man crew of a 25lb field gun killed
and, realising that the position he and his comrades held was about to be
overrun, he ran forward to man the gun. For six hours he loaded, aimed and
fired the weapon, enabling his comrades to fall back before finally
defeating the insurgents. Intelligence later revealed half the rebels had
been killed or wounded.
A senior SAS commander said last night: "We wanted them both to have VCs.
They gave their lives to save others."
I find this very bizarre in view of the British Prime Minister (Blair) not endorsing the award of two VCs to SAS soldiers for Afghanistan!
Yours,
Jock in SYdney
May 12, 2002 The Times (of London)
SAS heroes may get jubilee VCs
James Clark and Alastair McQueen
FOR the first time army chiefs are to ask the Queen to upgrade military
honours given to two SAS soldiers. They want the men to be awarded the
Victoria Cross, Britain‘s highest award for gallantry. The men‘s exploits,
one in the Falklands and the other in the "secret war" in Oman in the 1970s,
have passed into the elite regiment‘s history.
Although both were recommended for the VC, neither received the medal.
Senior military figures believe their membership of the secretive force
counted against them, and in an unprecedented move will ask the Queen to
mark her jubilee by making the awards.
Captain John Hamilton, 29, was the only SAS soldier to be killed in action
in the 1982 conflict with Argentina. He and another SAS man, signaller Roy
Fonseca, were ambushed by Argentine commandos on a hill above Bold Cove,
where 700 Argentinians were based.
Despite being outnumbered, Hamilton fought the Argentine troops for 15
minutes, being hit three times in an unsuccessful attempt to let Fonseca
escape. The Argentine officer in charge, Lieutenant Jose Duarte, was so
moved by Hamilton‘s bravery that he buried him with military honours and
later made sure senior British officers knew what the SAS soldier had done.
Hamilton was awarded a posthumous Military Cross. At the time the Queen
presented the medal to Hamilton‘s widow, she told her: "He earned this six
times over. I am only sorry I am not giving you something higher."
The second SAS man the Queen is to be asked to award a VC to was responsible
for one of the regiment‘s best-known acts of heroism, but was only mentioned
in dispatches because politicians thought awarding him a VC would draw
attention to the undercover war against communists in Oman.
Sergeant Talaiasi Labalaba, a Fijian, died after single-handedly holding off
a force of 400 communist insurgents during the battle of Mirbat in 1972.
During the battle Labalaba saw the three-man crew of a 25lb field gun killed
and, realising that the position he and his comrades held was about to be
overrun, he ran forward to man the gun. For six hours he loaded, aimed and
fired the weapon, enabling his comrades to fall back before finally
defeating the insurgents. Intelligence later revealed half the rebels had
been killed or wounded.
A senior SAS commander said last night: "We wanted them both to have VCs.
They gave their lives to save others."