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The Victoria Cross (post-nominal letters "VC") is the highest military honour of the British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, being awarded only for extraordinary valour and devotion to duty while facing a hostile force. It is the highest honour in the Canadian honour system, placed before all other orders, decorations and medals, including the Order of Canada, in the Order of Precedence. It was historically awarded to members of the Canadian Forces of any rank in any service, and to allies serving under or with Canadian military command;
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Background
Established in 1856, the Victoria Cross has been awarded to service personnel for extraordinary valour and devotion to duty while facing a hostile force. Between 1858 and 1881 the Victoria Cross could also be awarded for actions taken "under circumstances of extreme danger" not in the face of the enemy. Six people were awarded Victoria Crosses under this clause - one Irish man in 1866 for actions taken during the Fenian raids; five (a Canadian, three Irish and a English man) for a single incident in 1867 during the Andaman Islands Expedition. In 1881, VC regulations were amended to only allow acts "in the presence of the enemy".
Since 1993, Canadians have no longer been eligible for the Victoria Cross: that medal has been superseded by the Canadian Victoria Cross – of equal honour, but yet to be awarded. The Canadian medal differs only in that the inscription is in Latin rather than English; by using a language that is an ancestor of both English and French, the medal avoids linguistic discrimination between Canada's two official languages.
Summary
The Victoria Cross has been presented to 96 Canadians, or people closely associated with Canada, between its creation for acts performed during the Crimean War and 1993 when the Canadian Victoria Cross was instituted. No Canadian has received either honour since 1945.
The first Canadian to be awarded the Victoria Cross was Alexander Roberts Dunn for his actions at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War in 1854. William Hall, a Nova Scotian, was the first black recipient of the Victoria Cross. The last living Canadian recipient of the British Victoria Cross, "Smokey" Smith, died in August 2005.
Seventy-one Victoria Crosses were awarded to Canadians for their actions in the First World War, and Canadians won sixteen VCs during the Second World War. The remaining recipients were awarded the medal for actions performed in the Crimean War (Battle of Balaclava), the Indian Rebellion of 1857, in a native uprising at a remote Indian Ocean island and the Second Boer War.
Timothy O'Hea, a 23-year-old Irishman in the British army, fought a fire in a railway car containing 900 kilograms of ammunition stationed at Danville, Quebec during the Fenian raids. O'Hea is the only VC recipient awarded for actions on Canadian soil.
Seven Canadians were awarded VCs individually on one single day, 2 September 1918, for actions they performed along the 30 km long Drocourt-Quéant Line near Arras, France: Bellenden Hutcheson, Arthur George Knight, William Henry Metcalf, Claude Nunney, Cyrus Wesley Peck, Walter Leigh Rayfield and John Francis Young. Their acts of exceptional valour were performed during Canada's Hundred Days of successful offensive campaigning that helped end the war.
Recipients
This along with the *, indicates that the Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously