Tales of Heroism

Britain hands out many lesser decorations, but the Victoria Cross is awarded sparingly, only for "conspicuous bravery . . . in the presence of the enemy." Last week were awarded the seventh, eighth and ninth V.C.s of World War II, for deeds of extraordinary daring: Acting Flight Lieutenant Roderick Learoyd, 27, pilot of one of five Hampden bombers assigned on Aug. 12 to destroy a special objective on the Dortmund-Ems Canal. His story:

"The moon was about half full, everything was quiet until we got to the point where the canal forked just before the two aqueducts. Then suddenly everything started at once--searchlights and all the anti-aircraft fire. It was unfortunate from our point of view, of course, that the enemy knew pretty well the direction from which we must attack. They had disposed their defenses so that they formed a sort of lane through which we had to pass. It seemed that they had strengthened these defenses a great deal since the first raids.

"The searchlights were blinding and we were flying entirely on the bomb aimer's instructions. I had my head down inside the cockpit trying to see the instruments, but the glare made even that difficult. Our instructions were not to rush it too much, because of the need for extreme accuracy.

"Almost at the same moment as we bombed I felt a thump, and the aircraft lurched to the right. A pom-pom shell had gone through the starboard wing. Then another shell hit the same wing between the fuselage and the engine. They were firing pretty well at point-blank range. It was all over in a few seconds. The navigator called out. 'O.K. finish.' Then we turned away. . . ."

Whether the other planes of his formation were destroyed or turned back, he did not say; presumably they were.

Lieutenant Richard W. Annand's platoon ran out of ammunition while defending a blasted bridgehead on the Dyle River in Belgium. The Germans started across the river. Lieut. Annand ran forward alone into machine-gun fire, bombarded the enemy with hand grenades, drove them back with more than 20 casualties. Later that night, though wounded, he repeated the performance. When he was finally ordered to withdraw his platoon, he did so in good order, but found his batman (orderly) had been left behind. He went back, fetched the orderly in a wheelbarrow, then passed out.

Sergeant Major George Gristock's company was caught by the fire of a machine-gun nest pushed forward against its position on the Scheldt River (Belgium). Gristock went up alone under heavy fire and, though shot in both legs, wiped out the machine-gun crew at 20 yards with his automatic rifle. He did not return.

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