Historic war medals donated to museum | Pair includes fabled 'Valour Road' Victoria Cross

June 09, 2010

A year after a controversial auction that saw the federal government spend almost $300,000 to prevent a historic Victoria Cross from leaving the country, the Canadian War Museum has quietly -- and frugally -- acquired two more of the coveted medals, including another of the storied "Valour Road" VCs awarded to three First World War soldiers from the same street in Winnipeg.

The museum's military heritage coup, to be officially announced Wednesday, not only preserves two significant pieces of Canadian war history but also saves taxpayers a bundle. Both medals -- Cpl. Leo Clarke's VC from the 1916 Battle of the Somme and Lt. John Mahony's VC from the Italian campaign of 1944 -- were secured as donations at a time when such artifacts are in hot demand among international collectors and can sell at auction for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Clarke's Victoria Cross is a particularly poignant acquisition after the museum's $288,000 purchase last year -- with strong backing from the Conservative government -- of the VC awarded to his fellow resident of Winnipeg's Pine Street, Lt. Robert Shankland.

The potential loss of that medal to a foreign buyer had prompted then-veterans affairs minister Greg Thompson to vow to do "whatever it takes" to make sure the "powerful and enduring symbol" of Canadian courage remained in the country.

A third resident of Pine Street -- renamed Valour Road to recognize the remarkable coincidence -- also won the Victoria Cross during the 1914-18 war. Sgt.-Maj. Frederick Hall's medal is still privately held.

With the addition of the medals awarded to Clarke and Mahony -- a native of New Westminster, B.C., who died in London, Ont., in 1990 -- the museum now holds 32 of the 94 VCs granted to Canadians since the award was instituted in 1856 by Queen Victoria for all Commonwealth countries.

Clarke's VC is particularly important because it was presented on Canadian soil. Two months after performing the brave deed that earned him his country's highest military honour -- a successful, single-handed assault on 20 German soldiers at the Somme -- Clarke was killed by enemy shellfire at age 24.

So it was Clarke's father, at a 1917 ceremony attended by thousands, who accepted the medal from the governor general of the day, the Duke of Devonshire.

Mahony was awarded his Victoria Cross for leading his men in taking a key enemy position "against overwhelming odds" along Italy's Melfa River in May 1944. Then, in a "particularly heroic move," he rescued trapped soldiers "by crawling forward with the aid of smoke grenades and leading the men to safety."

Though Mahony suffered a head injury and two leg wounds, he survived the war and lived to age 79.

"These medal sets will help the museum document the country's role in both world wars and keep alive the remarkable legacy of Canada's veterans," said Mark O'Neill, the museum's director general.

"They will help us convey to a new generation what their forebears endured and achieved in the fight against tyranny."
 
Source:     Canwest News Service
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 9, 2010 A3