Fact Sheet: The Victoria Cross
Published Friday 18th March 2005

• Prior to 2005, the most recent Victoria Crosses (VCs) were awarded for acts that took place on 28 May and 11/12 June 1982. These were awarded posthumously to Lt Col H Jones and Sgt Ian McKay (respectively) of the Parachute Regiment for their actions in the Falklands War.
• The last VC awarded to a British soldier who was alive at the time of the award was to LCpl Rambahadur Limbu, 10th Gurkha Rifles, for his action in Sarawak, Borneo, on 21 November 1965 in the Indonesian confrontation.
• Twelve VCs have been awarded since the Second World War (six posthumous).
• 1355 awards have now been made, of which 57 have been won by The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment and its forebears. These include Captain (now Lt Col) E C T Wilson of The East Surrey Regiment, who is one of the few holders still living.
• There are 14 holders still alive including the most recent recipient Pte Johnson Gideon Beharry (as at March 2005).
• The first VC was won on 21 June 1854 by Mate (later Rear Admiral) Charles Lucas RN in the Crimea.
• Each VC has been made from the bronze from the cascabels of two Chinese cannon captured from the Russians at the siege of Sevastopol.
• The last remaining cascabel is tended by 15 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps at Donnington. The cascabel is stored in special vaults and is removed only under exceptional circumstances.
• The remaining cascabel weighs 358 oz.
• The two cannon, minus cascabels, are outside the Officers’ Mess at the Royal Artillery barracks at Woolwich.
• The cascabel, a large knob at the rear of the cannon, held ropes which were used when the weapon was being man-handled.

Further information on the Victoria Cross and its recipients may be found on several unofficial websites dedicated to the VC.

Related links:

• Victoria and George Cross holders remembered at Westminster Abbey
• Victoria Cross Reference web site

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