page_title: Victoria Cross
section_title: Separate Commonwealth awards
hierarchical_section_title: Victoria Cross / Award process / Separate Commonwealth awards
caption_attribution_description: English: Image of Victoria Cross Medal as appears on CWGC gravestones. Medal design was UK Crown copyright prior to 1952 and now in the public domain.
context_page_description: The Victoria Cross is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces. It may be awarded posthumously. It was previously awarded to Commonwealth countries, most of which have established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any military rank in any service and to civilians under military command although no civilian has received the award since 1879. Since the first awards were presented by Queen Victoria in 1857, two-thirds of all awards have been personally presented by the British monarch. These investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace.
  The VC was introduced on 29 January 1856 by Queen Victoria to honour acts of valour during the Crimean War. Since then, the medal has been awarded 1,358 times to 1,355 individual recipients. Only 15 medals, of which 11 were to members of the British Army and four were to members of the Australian Army, have been awarded since the Second World War.
context_section_description: Since the Second World War, most but not all Commonwealth countries have created their own honours systems and no longer participate in the British honours system. This began soon after the Partition of India in 1947, when the new countries of India and Pakistan introduced their own systems of awards. The VC was replaced by the Param Vir Chakra (PVC) and Nishan-e-Haider (NH) respectively. Most if not all new honours systems continued to permit recipients of British honours to wear their awards according to the rules of each nation's order of wear. Sri Lanka, whose defence personnel were eligible to receive the Victoria Cross until 1972, introduced its own equivalent, the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya medal. Three Commonwealth realms—Australia, Canada and New Zealand—have each introduced their own decorations for gallantry and bravery, replacing British decorations such as the Victoria Cross with their own. The only Commonwealth countries that still can recommend the VC are the small nations that still participate in the British honours system, none of whose forces have ever been awarded the VC.
  When the Union of South Africa instituted its own range of military decorations and medals with effect from 6 April 1952, these new awards took precedence before all earlier British decorations and medals awarded to South Africans, with the exception of the Victoria Cross, which still took precedence before all other awards. The other older British awards continued to be worn in the order prescribed by the British Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood.
  Australia was the first Commonwealth realm to create its own VC, on 15 January 1991. Although it is a separate award, its appearance is identical to its British counterpart. Canada followed suit when in 1993 Queen Elizabeth signed Letters Patent creating the Canadian VC, which is also similar to the British version, except that the legend has been changed from "for valour" to the Latin "pro valore". This language was chosen so as to favour neither French nor English, the two official languages of Canada. New Zealand was the third country to adapt the VC into its own honours system. While the New Zealand and Australian VCs are technically separate awards, the decoration is identical to the British design, including being cast from the same gunmetal as the British VC. The Canadian Victoria Cross also includes metal from the same cannon, along with copper and other metals from all regions of Canada.
  There have been five recipients of the Victoria Cross for Australia, 4 for action in Afghanistan and one awarded for action in the Second World War following a review. The first was to Trooper Mark Donaldson (Special Air Service Regiment) on 16 January 2009 for actions during Operation Slipper, the Australian contribution to the War in Afghanistan; Ben Roberts-Smith,  Daniel Keighran and Cameron Baird were also awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia for actions in Afghanistan. Teddy Sheean was awarded the VC after the Australian Government convened an expert panel to review his case. The Victoria Cross for New Zealand has been awarded once: Corporal Willie Apiata (New Zealand Special Air Service) on 2 July 2007, for his actions in the War in Afghanistan in 2004. The Canadian Victoria Cross has been cast once, to be awarded to the Unknown Soldier at the rededication of the Vimy Memorial on 7 April 2007 (this date being chosen as it was the 90th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge), but pressure from veterans' organisations caused the plan to be dropped.
caption: Victoria Cross as it appears on Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones.
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