Arthur Louis Aaron Arthur Louis Aaron VC DFM ( 5 March 1922 – 13 August 1943 ) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . Aaron was a native of Leeds , Yorkshire , and was educated at Roundhay School and Leeds School of Architecture when the war began . He enlisted in the Royal Air Force , and trained as a pilot in Texas . Returning to England , he joined No . 218 " Gold Coast " Squadron , flying Short Stirling heavy bombers . He had flown 90 operational flying hours and 19 sorties , and had recently been awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal . VC action . Aaron was 21 years old , flying Stirling serial number EF452 on his 20th sortie . The official citation for his VC reads : The gunfire that hit Flight Sergeant Aaron ' s aircraft was thought to have been from an enemy night fighter , but may have been friendly fire from another Stirling . The bomber ' s Canadian navigator , Cornelius A . Brennan , was killed and other members of the crew were wounded . Memorials . He was an ' old boy ' of Roundhay School , Leeds ( headmaster at the time was B . A . Farrow ) . There is a plaque in the main hall of the school to his memory incorporating the deed that merited the VC . ( Genealogical research proved many years ago that Aaron ' s father was a Russian Jewish immigrant even though the family denied it after Aaron was killed , and he boasted of this to members of his air training colleagues in the mess in Texas on many occasions ; see material in " We Will Remember Them " by Henry Morris and Martin Sugarman , published by Valentine Mitchell , 2011 ) . He is commemorated at the AJEX Jewish Military Museum in Hendon , London , one of three Jewish VC ' s of the Second World War ( the others being Tommy Gould , Royal Navy , and John Keneally , Irish Guards ) . Aaron also belonged at school or University to 319 ATC ( Jewish ) Squadron in Broughton , Manchester , where his photograph still hangs ; this fact was researched by Col Martin Newman DL from the HQ Air Cadets archives . Aaron ' s Victoria Cross is displayed at the Leeds City Museum . To mark the new Millennium , the Leeds Civic Trust organised a public vote to choose a statue to mark the occasion , and to publicise the city ' s past heroes and heroines . Candidates included Benjamin Latrobe and Sir Henry Moore . Arthur Aaron won the vote , with Don Revie beating Joshua Tetley and Frankie Vaughan as runner - up . Located on a roundabout on the northern edge of the city centre , close to the West Yorkshire Playhouse , the statue of Aaron was unveiled on 24 March 2001 by Malcolm Mitchem , the last survivor of the aircraft . The five - metre bronze sculpture by Graham Ibbeson takes the form of Aaron standing next to a tree , up which are climbing three children progressively representing the passage of time between 1950 and 2000 , with the last a girl releasing a dove of peace , all representing the freedom his sacrifice helped ensure . There was controversy about the siting of the statue , and it was proposed to transfer it to Millennium Square outside Leeds City Museum . However , as of 2012 the statue remains on the roundabout .