The MC is granted in recognition of "an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy on land" to all members of the British Armed Forces of any rank.[6] In 1979, Queen Elizabeth II approved a proposal that a number of awards, including the Military Cross, could be recommended posthumously.[7]
History
The award was created on 28 December 1914 for commissioned officers of the substantive rank of captain or below and for warrant officers. The first 98 awards were gazetted on 1 January 1915, to 71 officers, and 27 warrant officers. Although posthumous recommendations for the Military Cross were unavailable until 1979, the first awards included seven posthumous awards, with the word 'deceased' after the name of the recipient, from recommendations that had been raised before the recipients died of wounds or died from other causes.[2]
Awards are announced in The London Gazette, apart from most honorary awards to allied forces in keeping with the usual practice not to gazette awards to foreigners.[8]
From August 1916, recipients of the Cross were entitled to use the post-nominal letters MC,[9] and bars could be awarded for further acts of gallantry meriting the award,[10] with a silver rosette worn on the ribbon when worn alone to denote the award of each bar.
From September 1916, members of the Royal Naval Division, who served alongside the Army on the Western Front, were made eligible for military decorations, including the Military Cross, for the war's duration.[11] Naval officers serving with the division received 140 MCs and eight second award bars.[3]
In June 1917, eligibility was extended to temporary majors, not above the substantive rank of captain.[12] Substantive majors were made eligible in 1953.[13]
In 1931, the award was extended to equivalent ranks in the Royal Air Force for actions on the ground.[14]
After the Second World War, most Commonwealth countries created their own honours system and no longer recommended British awards. The last Military Cross awards for the Canadian Army were for Korea. The last four Australian Army Military Cross awards were promulgated in The London Gazette on 1 September 1972 for Vietnam as was the last New Zealand Army Military Cross award, which was promulgated on 25 September 1970. Canada, Australia and New Zealand have now created their own gallantry awards under their own honours systems.
Since the 1993 review of the honours system, as part of the drive to remove distinctions of rank in awards for bravery the Military Medal, formerly the third-level decoration for other ranks, was discontinued. The MC is now the third-level award for all ranks of the British Armed Forces for "exemplary gallantry" on land, not to the standard required to receive the Victoria Cross (for "the most conspicuous bravery") or the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.[15]
Reverse is plain. From 1938 until 1957 the year of award was engraved on lower limb of cross,[19] and since 1984 it has been awarded named to the recipient.[18]
The ribbon width is 32 mm and consists of three equal vertical moire stripes of white, purple, and white.
Ribbon bar denoting a further award is plain silver, with a crown in the centre.
Recipients
Numbers awarded
Since 1914, over 52,000 Military Crosses and 3,717 bars have been awarded.[4][3] The dates below reflect the relevant London Gazette entries:
In all, 3,727 Military Crosses have been awarded to those serving with Canadian forces, including 324 first bars and 18 second bars.[22]
A total of 2,930 were awarded to Australians, in addition to 188 first bars and four second bars. Of these, 2,403 MCs, 170 first Bars and four second Bars were for World War I.[23]
Over 500 MCs were awarded to New Zealanders during World War I and over 250 in World War II. The most recent awards were for service in Vietnam.[24]
The honorary MC awards were made to servicemen from fifteen Allied countries in World War I, and nine in World War II.[3]
Notable awards
Albert Jacka's MC[25] and bar[26]MC awarded to 2nd Lt. E. W. Fane de Salis (1894–1980)[27]
During World War I, Acting Captain Francis Wallington of the Royal Field Artillery was the first person to be awarded the MC and three bars when he was invested with his third bar on 10 July 1918 (gazetted 13 September 1918: he had obtained the first three awards as a second lieutenant).[28][29] Three other officers were subsequently awarded a third bar, Percy Bentley, Humphrey Arthur Gilkes and Charles Gordon Timms, all of whose awards appeared in a supplement to the London Gazette on 31 January 1919.[28][30]
For their key roles during World War I, the cities of Verdun and Ypres were awarded the Military Cross, in September 1916 and February 1920 respectively.[3] In May 1920, Field Marshal French presented the decoration to Ypres in a special ceremony in the city.[31]
Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el capitán Sam Manekshaw , del ejército indio (que finalmente ascendió al rango de mariscal de campo), lideraba una operación de contraofensiva contra el ejército japonés invasor en Birmania. Durante la ofensiva fue alcanzado por una ráfaga de ametralladora y gravemente herido en el estómago. El mayor general DT Cowan vio a Manekshaw aferrándose a la vida y fue consciente de su valor frente a la dura resistencia de los japoneses. Temiendo lo peor, Cowan rápidamente colocó su propia cinta de la Cruz Militar en Manekshaw y dijo: "A una persona muerta no se le puede otorgar una Cruz Militar". [32]
La primera Cruz Militar póstuma fue la otorgada al Capitán Herbert Westmacott , Granaderos de la Guardia por su valentía en Irlanda del Norte durante el período del 1 de febrero de 1980 al 30 de abril de 1980. [33]
Marinera de primera Kate Nesbitt , segunda mujer, primera en la Royal Navy, por actos en Afganistán en marzo de 2009 como asistente médico adscrito a 1 RIFLES, 3 Brigada de Comando. [36] [37]
^ "Ficha informativa sobre defensa: premios y honores militares". Archivado desde el original el 17 de abril de 2010.
^ ab "Nº 29024". The London Gazette (suplemento). 29 de diciembre de 1914. págs. 7–9.
^ abcde Abbott & Tamplin, British Gallantry Awards, 2ª ed., págs. 220-222.
^ ab Jenn Stowell (9 de diciembre de 2020). "Toda la generación en la cruz militar". Red de Fuerzas . Consultado el 5 de marzo de 2021 .
^ ab "JSP 761 Honores y premios en las Fuerzas Armadas" (PDF) . pag. 12A–1. Archivado desde el original (PDF) el 2 de agosto de 2020 . Consultado el 7 de noviembre de 2014 .
^ "Nº 56693". The London Gazette (suplemento). 17 de octubre de 2002. p. 11146.
^Abbott & Tamplin, British Gallantry Awards, 2nd ed.. p. xx.
^Abbott & Tamplin, British Gallantry Awards, 2nd edition. p. 219.
^Revised Royal Warrant, clause 8. "No. 29725". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 August 1916. p. 8472.
^Revised Royal Warrant, clause 5. "No. 29725". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 August 1916. p. 8471.
^Abbott & Tamplin, British Gallantry Awards, 2nd ed.. p. 217.
^"The Military Cross, Royal Warrant of 25th June, 1917, amending the Third Clause of The Military Cross Warrant of 23rd August, 1916", War Office 3 July 1917 "No. 30161". The London Gazette. 3 July 1917. p. 6550.
^Abbott & Tamplin, British Gallantry Awards, 2nd ed. p. 218.
^"Military Cross (MC)". Ministry of Defence. 12 December 2012 [Last updated 30 November 2021].
^"The Military Cross: The New British War Decoration", Illustrated London News, vol. 146, no. 3959 (6 March 1915): 1.
^ a bHoyte C. Evans, "Kitchener and the Military Cross", Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America (March–April 1957): 14–15, accessed 3 November 2020, http://www.omsa.org/files/jomsa_arch/Splits/1957/87251_JOMSA_1957_March-April_13.pdf
^ a bJohn Mussell, Philip Mussell, Medal Yearbook 2015. p. 87.
^Peter Duckers, British Gallantry Awards 1855–2000, pp. 26–27.
^The World War I records are incomplete, see p. 220, British Gallantry Awards, (2nd ed), Abbott & Tamplin.
^Post 1979 MCs include 16 for the Falklands (London Gazette Supplement, 8 October 1982); 11 for Gulf War (London Gazette Supplement, 29 June 1991); 84 for Iraq and 215+1 bar for Afghanistan, plus awards for Northern Ireland and smaller conflicts.
^Veterans Affairs Canada – Military Cross (Retrieved 7 November 2018)
^"Imperial Awards". It's an Honour. Australian Government. Archived from the original on 23 June 2006. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
^New Zealand Defence Force: British Commonwealth Gallantry Awards – The Military Cross (Retrieved 7 November 2018)
^"No. 29824". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 November 1916. p. 11074.
^ a bScott Addington; For Conspicuous Gallantry... Winners of the Military Cross and Bar during the Great War. Volume 1 – Two Bars & Three Bars, Troubador Publishing Ltd, 2006, pp. 343–352.
^"No. 30901". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 September 1918. p. 10877. (Wallington)
^"No. 31158". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 January 1919. p. 1617. (Bentley, Gilkes & Timms)
^"The Award of the Military Cross to the City of Ypres, Belgium". Imperial War Museums.
^"No. 48346". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 October 1980. p. 14608. (Westmacott)
^"No. 58183". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 December 2006. p. 17359. (Norris)
^Glendinning, Lee (22 March 2007). "Historic award for female private". The Guardian. UK. p. 8. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 March 2007.
^"No. 59182". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 September 2009. p. 15640. (Nesbitt)
^"First female Royal Navy medic awarded Military Cross". The Daily Telegraph. London. 27 November 2009. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
^Norton-Taylor, Richard (22 September 2009). "Soldier Killed in Afghanistan Has Been Awarded Military Cross". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
Bibliography
Abbott, Peter and Tamplin, John. British Gallantry Awards, 2nd ed. (1981). Nimrod Dix and Co., London. ISBN 978-0-902633-74-2.
Duckers, Peter. British Gallantry Awards 1855–2000 (2011). Shire Publications, Risborough, Buckinghamshire. ISBN 978-0-7478-0516-8.
Mussell, J. (ed.). Medals Yearbook 2015 (2014). Token Publishing, Honiton, Devon. ISBN 978-1-908828-16-3.
External links
Original Royal Warrant for the MC Supplement to London Gazette, 1 January 1915
Current Royal Warrant for the MC Supplement to London Gazette, 17 September 2002
Database of Australian Awardees at the Australian Government Honours website
Search recommendations for the Military Cross The UK National Archives
"Military Cross". The King's Own Royal Regiment Museum, Lancaster.