Other Victoria Cross winners include Wing-Commander Guy Gibson, leader of the ‘Dambuster’ raids in 1943; Lord Roberts, who won it as a young lieutenant during the Indian Mutiny (and whose son was awarded the medal during the Boer War); John Cornwell, the 16-year-old gunner who was mortally wounded while tending his gun on board H.M.S. Chester during the battle of Jutland in 1916; and the heroes of Rorke’s Drift in the Zulu War of 1879, who earned a remarkable 11 crosses.

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In addition, one medal was awarded to ‘The unknown warrior of the United States of America’ and placed on the grave of the Unknown Soldier in the vault of the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery by Lord Beatty on 11th November, 1921. This VC symbolically honoured all the men and women who died for the Allied cause during the Great War. (The Unknown Warrior who lies in Westminster Abbey received the reciprocal award of the Congressional Medal of Honour, but not the VC.)

One of the latest VCs was the posthumous medal presented to the widow of Lieutenant Colonel Herbert (’H') Jones, who was killed at Darwin, East Falkland on 28th May, 1982, while leading the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, against a strong Argentine position.

In a few rare cases, a bar was awarded to VC winners for a second act of bravery. Two members of the Royal Army Medical Corps share this unique distinction: Lieutenant Arthur Martin-Leake, who won his VC during the Boer War, and was granted the bar during the First World War; and Captain N. G. Chavasse who won both distinctions during the Great War. Contrarily, eight recipients of the Cross originally had their names erased from the VC Roll for discreditable acts, including Edward Daniel, RN, who received the Cross for bravery in the Crimean War, but was found to be drunk on duty on several occasions after the war. Since King George V expressed his wish that the medal should never be forfeited, no matter what the crime, the names of these eight recipients have been restored to the roll.

While the Victoria Cross is awarded primarily to members of the armed forces, civilians are eligible if they are serving with the military. Three magistrates in the Bengal Civil Service won the medal during the Mutiny, and a fourth, a clergyman, earned the Cross during the Second Afghanistan War. Also, while the medal generally recognizes service in battle, several have been given for heroic deeds not in the face of the enemy. One medal was awarded for extinguishing a fire in a railroad car full of ammunition in 1866, and five VCs were won by soldiers of the 24th Foot for their courage in saving the lives of comrades during a storm at sea off the Andaman Islands in 1867. Although women are eligible to win the Cross, as of yet none have received the medal.

The medal brings with it a small annual pension and current recipients are entitled to membership in the elite ‘Victoria Cross and George Cross Association’, which was formed in 1956 with Sir Winston Churchill as President, though the great statesman was not a VC winner himself.

Occasionally the medals come up for auction, where they always sell for extremely high prices. Many of the medals can be seen today in regimental museums including the National Army Museum in Chelsea and the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth. In 1997 a new, permanent exhibition of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Collection, consisting of 25 VCs and 16 GCs (the civilian equivalent of the VC), opened at the Imperial War Museum. At the opening by the Prince of Wales, the actual ingot of metal from the captured Russian cannons was displayed before being returned to its secure vault. Whether that ingot will ever be used again remains to be seen, but when the call goes out for war, men and women will step up to the challenge like their predecessors and perform the heroic deeds that inspired the Victoria Cross.

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