Stories of Valour

Here are some of the accounts of the heroics of Canadians who won the Victoria Cross during the Second World War.

While holding out against the enemy in a bridgehead over the Savio River of Italy in 1944, Private Ernest 'Smokey' Smith single-handedly fought off enemy tanks and infantry, while protecting his wounded comrade. According to his citation: "The Germans thought an entire company did the work of this one man."

Captain Paul Triquet planned and carried out a daring raid that resulted in the capture of an important junction on the main road to Ortona, which would prove to be the site of a key Allied victory. When his troops were surrounded on all sides, Triquet was heard to yell, "...There is only one safe place - that is on the objective!"

Reverend Major John Foote, a chaplain with the troops landing in the Dieppe raid of August 1942, risked enemy fire time and again to help rescue wounded soldiers from the bloody beach. He helped treat them medically and evacuate some to landing craft but in the end, rather than leave on a boat himself, he chose to stay with the Canadian soldiers who had to be left behind to be captured by the Germans.

Lieutenant Robert Gray was a member of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve serving on a British aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. In August of 1945, he led a courageous bombing mission against a Japanese destroyer in which he successfully hit his target but lost his life in the heroic effort. His was the last Canadian combat death of the Second World War and the last time a Canadian has won the Victoria Cross.

Captain Frederick Peters braved fierce fire in taking part in a heroic ship assault on harbour defences during Allied

After starting basic training Sept. 21, 1942 in Lauzon, Que., Kenneth completed his Advanced Training at Camp Borden, Ont. in July 1943, and went to England in August 1943. He arrived in Italy to serve in the 5th Armoured Division in November 1943, and drove an ammunition truck. In 1946 he returned to Lower Ireland, Que. and purchased a farm in Milby in 1948. He sold the farm in 1975 and retired to a new home in Milby. In 2003 he moved to the St. Francis Manor in Lennoxville.

landings in Algeria in 1942. His ship reached the enemy jetty disabled and ablaze and went down with its colours still flying. Captain Peters was the only officer to survive the attack and was taken prisoner.

During the Battle of Hong Kong, the unit that Company Sergeant Major John Osborn was leading became surrounded by the enemy. The Japanese began to throw grenades into the Canadians' defensive positions but Osborn caught several of them and threw them back. Finally one fell where he could not retrieve it in time. Shouting a warning, he threw himself upon the grenade as it exploded, giving his life for his comrades.

Sergeant Aubrey Cosens won the Victoria Cross for his actions in a battle to push the enemy from a small village in the Hochwald forest of western Germany. Cosens assumed command of his battered platoon and personally cleared the German defenders from three buildings in the midst of intense enemy fire, killing or taking prisoner at least 40 Germans before he himself was killed by a sniper.

Major David Currie was leading a force that was tasked with cutting off the retreating Germans in the Falaise pocket of France during the Battle of Normandy. At an enemy-held village, he personally led an attack that allowed the Canadians to gain a position there and then. With much personal heroism, he helped the unit hold on against fierce German counter-attacks for three days (combat that saw 800 Germans killed or wounded and 2,100 captured). He then led his men in securing the rest of the village and helped seal off the Falaise pocket. Veterans Affairs Canada