Have you ever met a real life character, someone so different
to your preconceptions?
I certainly have, a few years ago I met a real-life hero,
and I would have passed him in the street and never have known that he had
performed a feat of valour that won him the Victoria Cross, the highest
decoration for bravery on the battlefield in the Australian and British army.
In 1854 during the Crimean War, The Victoria Cross came into being. It was named for Queen Victoria and was the highest award for valour. The medals were struck from a bronze Russian cannon captured in the Crimea.
Like
the American Medal of Honor, only the bravest of the brave receive this award.
The first war in which any Australians won the Victoria Cross was in South Africa (1899-1902), six were awarded. In the 1st World War sixty four Victoria Crosses were won by Australians, in the 2nd World War the number was twenty. Four were awarded for The Vietnam War, and four Victoria Crosses have recently been awarded to Australian soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. In some instances the medal was awarded posthumously.
I had always thought of heroes as young, tall, strong and
virile looking, always confident, sometimes brash even (like the heroes in my
wartime romances). Of course, the heroes from Afghanistan are young men, the same ages as my sons, but my experience dates from a number of years ago.
I worked in a medical clinic that treated war veterans. I had seen this man’s file and I couldn’t
believe it when I saw that he had won the Victoria Cross and a couple of other valour
awards. I couldn’t wait to see this real live hero. I knew I would recognise
him straight away. I mean, he would be old because he had served in 2nd World War, but he would have a presence about him, I didn’t doubt that for a moment.
An old man shuffled up to the counter. He was thin and short
in stature, made worse by being hunched over, and his hair was grey and sparse.
He quietly gave his name, his voice wavering, almost apologetic, because he
obviously thought his presence here was causing extra work for me.
When he handed in his appointment card, I was shocked, this
little old man was a hero, one of the bravest of the brave.
2014 is the centenary year of the start of the 1st World War, or the Great War as it was called.
On August 4th 1914, the Germans crossed the Belgium border and Britain declared war on Germany.The Australian government immediately promised to supply 20,000 troops. In fact the number eventually ended up being over 300,000 before the war ended in 1918. This was bloodiest and most costly war Australia would ever be involved in.
My novel, Allison's War, is set against a background of the 1st World War and I have also writen three other novels set during this period.
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