DECORATIONS
To sneer at decorations is often much
easier than to earn them.
It is true that more decorations, from the
Victoria Cross down, have been awarded in
this war than in the hundred years before it.
It may be stated that for each of these
distinctions given a man, ten others should now be
wearing the bit of ribbon which signifies the
award, if justice could only be done. Many
a high-minded chap is lying out there, with
only a small wooden cross to mark his last
resting place, who, if the truth were but known,
earned the finest that we had to give. And
thousands of gallant others there are with
naught but their khaki to distinguish them
as soldiers of liberty, who have, with a smile
on their lips and with no thought of awards or
rewards in their minds performed feats of the
noblest courage and self-sacrifice.
It was an inspiration of genius that made
Napoleon institute the Legion of Honor. By
that act he proved himself a student of human
nature, as well as the greatest military leader
of perhaps any age. For most men who are
normally constituted would rather receive a
decoration honestly earned for gallantry on the
field, than accept a reward in money for the
same deed. While it is true that:
Ambition has but one reward for all:
A little power, a little transient fame,
A grave to rest in, and a fading name;
a large proportion of humankind are so
constituted that for "a little transient fame" they
are willing, aye, even anxious, to risk getting
only "a grave to rest in."
The difficulty lies in deciding who is most
worthy of these coveted awards, for in the
excitement of battle courageous acts are
common, and often unobserved. For the occasional
man who has unjustly received an award, there
are thousands whose bravery should be rewarded,
but who, for one reason or another, are
overlooked. All who show courage and
resource cannot be chosen for the bit of ribbon,
so the attempt is made to choose the most
conspicuous examples. And in this choosing it is
inevitable that fallible human nature must
often err, but the erring rarely goes to the extent
of recommending someone who is wholly unworthy.
Someone has sneeringly remarked that the
surest way to a decoration is to court the favor
of one's commanding officer who usually puts
in the recommendations for award; but there
must be few officers commanding units who
would be so unwise as to alienate the loyalty
of their men by picking favorites in this
manner. And men are not so depraved that there
are many who would desire the recognition
of the multitude without at least fair grounds
for that recognition and praise. You might
suppose that at the base or at home, where
recognition is given rather for general good
work than for special acts of honor, favoritism
is more common. But it may safely be stated
that decorations in all fields are usually
honestly earned.
The saddest mistake is when a man has
performed some lofty, noble, self-sacrificing act,
yet receives no reward but his consciousness
of duty well done.
I was one day assisting Colonel B---- to
hold a board on a disabled soldier to decide the
amount of his disability and his right to
pension. His left arm was missing, and Colonel
B----, in his sympathetic manner, asked him
how he had lost it. The facts were that he
and his officer, being one night out on a
scouting trip in No Man's Land, were both wounded
by rifle fire, the officer the more seriously.
The private put his officer on his shoulders
and carried him through a shower of machine-gun
bullets to a place of safety in a shellhole
near their own parapet, one of the bullets
smashing the man's arm on the way. In the
morning both were pulled in by comrades, and
sent to the hospital. The officer died on the
way without regaining consciousness, and the
private's left arm had to be amputated. He
alone knew the details of his heroic work, and
he received an ordinary pension for a V.C. deed.
He told his story at the colonel's request,
in a quiet, modest, uncomplaining manner
which gave it the stamp of truth. His
case is one of many like it where no adequate
reward has been given for great heroism; but
their total avoidance is impossible.
Sergeant-Major D---- took part in the
Battle of the Somme, and did such excellent
work under dangerous surroundings that he
was recommended for a decoration, which
recommendation was approved. In the usual
course of events it was published in divisional
orders that Sergeant-Major D---- had been
awarded the Military Medal. But then the
powers bethought themselves that he, being a
warrant officer, should have been given
instead the Military Cross, and as a result the
whole order was cancelled, and he was given
nothing. However, at the Battle of Vimy
Ridge, he was a Lieutenant in our battalion.
Some months previously he had been given his
promotion, really against his own desires as he
said that he could do better work in the junior
position--a not very common form of modesty
in the army. After this battle he was chosen
for courageous and able work, and was awarded
the Military Cross. Thus he at last came
into his own.
The Blank Highlanders held the lines to
the right of a certain Canadian battalion. They
planned to put on an important raid, but,
being short a certain necessary section, they
asked the loan of an officer and twenty men of
this section of the Canadians on their left. The
Canadians were glad of the honor of aiding
this well-known Scottish unit in their raid.
Twenty men gaily joined them, but for some
reason the men were sent in charge of two
officers, the regular officer of the section and
a subaltern. The officer in charge remained
at the Scottish H.Q., while his subaltern took
part in the raid. So effectually did the
Canadians aid the Scots that the latter were very
high in their praise of the Canadians, and put
in a recommendation that "the officer in charge
of this Canadian Section be awarded the M.C. for
gallantry," intending the award for the
subaltern who had assisted them on the field.
But the "officer in charge of the Canadian
Section" was he who had remained at the
H.Q. By some twist in this recommendation
he received, and accepted, the M.C. which had
been meant for his junior who had really done
the gallant work for which the decoration was
given. The subaltern did not get even a
mention in dispatches, and at a later date he was
killed while fighting bravely.
The Canadian battalion to which the two
officers belonged were so annoyed, and so
ashamed of the decorated officer, that no word
was said of the mistake to their Scottish friends.
The officer was allowed to wear without comment
his unearned award, but his stay with his
battalion came to an abrupt end shortly afterward.
But it may be repeated safely that mistakes
such as the above are very, very rare, and that
most of those who win recognition on the field
may wear their ribbons with pride and without
shame.