Page 9 - Cadet Review Summer 2021

DEFINITIONS
Courage
There are different types of courage: Moral – to do what is right
Physical – to do what is difficult Personal – to do what you are afraid of
Bravery
Perceived by others
Judged by others
Measured against ourselves
During the Siege and Battle of Kohima there were two awards of the Victoria Cross. This is Britain’s highest possible award for "...most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of
valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy”. In both cases it was awarded posthumously. The actions that these men were awarded their VCs for are easily researched and just as easily found, so I won’t recount them here.
The first to L/Cpl John Pennington Harman of the 4th battalion, Queens Own Royal West Kents (4 RWK) who won his award for actions carried out on the 9th April 1944 on the Daily Issue Store (D.I.S.) feature of Kohima Ridge
The second to Captain John Neil Randal of 2nd Battalion, The Royal Norfolk Regiment, who won his award for actions carried out on the 9th May 1944 on Aradura Spur at Kohima.
NOTE: Indian troops were not originally eligible for the Victoria Cross since they had been eligible for the Indian Order of Merit since 1837 which was the oldest British gallantry award for general issue. When the Victoria Cross was created, Indian troops were still controlled by the Honourable East India Company and did not come under Crown control until 1860. European officers and men serving with the Honorable East India Company were not eligible for the Indian Order of Merit, and the Victoria Cross was extended to cover them in October 1857. It
was only at the end of the 19th century that calls
for Indian troops to be awarded the Victoria Cross intensified. Indian troops became eligible for the award in 1911. The first awards to Indian troops appeared in the London Gazette on 7 December 1914 to Darwan Sing Negi and Khudadad Khan. Negi was presented with his Victoria Cross by King George V during a visit to troops in France. The presentation occurred on 5 December 1914 and he is one of a
very few soldiers presented with his award before it appeared in the London Gazette.
The British are no braver than the Germans,
the French, the Italians or anybody else, but they are braver for just a little bit longer
OTHER SELECTED CASES OF COURAGE AND BRAVERY AT KOHIMA...
Warrant Officer 2 (Company Serjeant Major) William Frank Haines MM, 4 RWK
was blinded by a shell splinter. He refused
to be evacuated to the aid post but instead
was guided around
the battlefield offering advice and support and raising morale until he was killed on the 18th April 1944. He showed courage and displayed bravery but received
no award (his Military Medal having been awarded previously). He has no known grave, but is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial1.
Gunner. Fateh Sher – Bren gunner
Gunner. Majid Khan – Bren gunner
20th Mountain Battery – A battery of 24th Mountain
Regiment, Royal Indian Artillery.
These men remained at their post firing their
Bren Gun at the advancing enemy to cover the withdrawal of their unit until they ran out of ammo. They could have withdrawn, but they showed courage and displayed bravery in choosing to remain. They received no award and were killed on 9th April 1944
Serjeant King – Mortar platoon Serjeant, 4 RWK, was severely wounded in the face by a piece of shrapnel. He continued to site and fire his mortars to good effect against the advancing enemy, holding his lower jaw onto his face with one hand, until he was knocked unconscious by another explosion and was evacuated to the aid post. Sjt King showed courage and displayed bravery by continuing to fight the enemy despite his wounds and received no award.
Sepoy Wellington Massar – 1st Bn, Assam Regiment. In every battalion in every regiment in every army, there are always soldiers who do not always come up to the required standards of military discipline and behaviour while in barracks, but in the field, they behave quite differently. Sepoy Wellington Massar was reportedly such a soldier. A sort of Regimental ‘bad boy’.
During the siege, he was stood up on the billiard table in the DC’s shattered bungalow to get a better position to fire his Bren gun at the advancing Jap. He displayed courage and showed bravery by staying at his position until he was severely wounded. For his actions Sepoy Massar was awarded the I.D.S.M. the first sepoy of his regiment to be win such a
high award. Eventually evacuated, Sepoy Massar succumbed to his wounds on 15 May. At the end, he was a good soldier who met the required military standards of discipline and behaviour and beyond. He gave his life as he added to the growing number of heroic deeds being accumulated by this relatively