3rd February 2026.
23 people sat down and 31 logged in via Zoom for the first branch meeting of 2026. An excellent turnout as February is historically the least attended meeting of the year.
We congratulated our Chairman Dave Larcombe on his MBE, awarded in the Kings new year honours list. We also welcomed a new branch member, Brad Watt ex 2 RTR.
The minutes of the November 2025 branch meeting were discussed. Members were informed that the brand-new laptops purchased using branch funds were making their debut at the meeting.
The recap of activity discussed was the Remembrance Sunday services at Bournemouth, Poole, Weymouth & Bovington all of which had branch representation.
The branch congratulated Dave Roberts & Mike Everton on their superb running of the very successful ladies’ lunch in January.
Forthcoming activity announced was the RTR church service & curry lunch at Bovington on Sunday 22nd March 2026.
The secretary confirmed that the guest speaker for March 2026 is David Morgan. David was a Sea Harrier pilot during the Falklands war and is credited with 4 confirmed victories in air-to-air combat. His presentation is about the air war in the conflict.
The committee feels that the December social event has run its course and is looking for ideas for a new format. In true British parliamentary fashion, we put off a decision until next month.
With no further business to discuss the meeting closed and the guest speaker was introduced.
Lt Col (retd) Richard (Dick) Taylor stepped up to the mark and kick started the branch year with a dynamic and fascinating presentation. The title of his talk was “The Impossible Cross” the subject of the talk was the Victoria Cross, how it is awarded, why it is awarded, good awards, not so good “dodgy” awards. It was fast, it was furious, it was entertaining, it was informative, it was really very good. The VC is supposed to be awarded for valour in the face of the enemy, the GC is for valour not in face of the enemy.
So, for a potted, edited, reduced version, here goes. 1358 VC’s have been awarded, to 1353 individuals. 3 individuals have been awarded the VC twice (VC & Bar) and two VC’s have gone to nations. A VC was awarded to the French “unknown warrior”, and the Legion of Honour came to our Unknown warrior from the French. The USA then got in on the act and awarded a Medal of Honor to the UK Unknown Warrior, so being politically correct a VC went the other way.
The VC was designed by Prince Albert and received the Royal Warrant in 1856. 111 recipients were announced (All Crimean War) and a parade where 62 of the 111 were given the award was held in Hyde Park in 1857. The VC was the only game in town for some time until the DCM, MM, MC etc and the tier system of awards came in being. This is why some awards might be deemed as a bit “suspect”. In one battle a General awarded his ADC a VC (early on a General could do this) even though the worthy act was carried out by another officer.
The fact that the ADC was the General’s son might have had a lot to do with it. The son got his award but a few weeks later when the same General tried to award the same ADC a second VC, the top brass in the UK intervened. Another example was the VC awarded to someone who disconnected a burning ammunition carriage from a train in Canada, a brave thing to do but it was not in the face of the enemy and so the action did not meet the VC criteria, but a VC was awarded none the less.
Once the other awards came into being and the tier system introduced the number of VC awards (including suspect awards) decreased.
There were lots of stories about VC recipient’s and their citations, some very amusing but it would not be appropriate to quote them on here. Some awards were clearly political; an example is the two VC’s awarded at Isandlwana (Zulu war). Lt’s Melvill & Coghill who were on horseback and ordered to take the colours to safety were given Posthuma’s VCs for their efforts, even though there were no witnesses to their actions as they were caught and killed some distance from the field of battle. A couple of VCs to improve morale after a disaster?
Dick finished by telling us that the metal the medal is created from is not from a Russian Cannon captured in Crimea but from a Chinese Cannon acquired from “somewhere”
There were lots more tales, stories and information, but the full monty is only for those who were there. If you want the full monty? come to the meetings or log on via Zoom.
Fear Naught
