Filip Konowal Filip Konowal VC ( 15 September 1888 – 3 June 1959 ) was a highly decorated Ukrainian Canadian soldier . He is the only Ukrainian recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy given to British and Commonwealth forces . He was also entitled to the Cross of St George , 4th Class . He is the patron of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 360 ( Konowal Branch ) in Toronto . First World War . Konowal was born 15 September 1888 in Kutkivtsi , Ukraine , in the Russian Empire and went on to serve in the Imperial Russian Army . Konowal was 28 years old , and an Acting Corporal in the 47th ( British Columbia ) Battalion , Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War . During the period 22 – 24 August 1917 , at the Battle of Hill 70 in Lens , France , he performed an act of bravery for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross . Citation . The citation was published in a supplement to the London Gazette of 23 November 1917 ( dated 26 November 1917 ) : Honours . Konowal ' s Victoria Cross medal was personally presented by King George V , and he was promoted to sergeant . He was also awarded the British War Medal ( 1914 – 1920 ) , Victory Medal ( 1914 – 1919 ) , George VI Coronation Medal ( 1937 ) , Elizabeth II Coronation Medal ( 1953 ) , and entitled to the Cross of St George , 4th Class , from Russia . The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 360 ( Konowal Branch ) in Toronto made him its patron in 1953 . The Legion helped established the Konowal Prize , an annual scholarship grant at the Royal Military College of Canada . Konowal died in 1959 at Hull , Quebec , aged 72 . He was buried at Notre Dame de Lourdes Cemetery , Ottawa , under a headstone in section A , lot 502 . In 1996 Konowal ' s headstone was replaced by an upright marker , and memorial plaques were unveiled : The Victoria Cross medal . The Canadian War Museum in Ottawa purchased Konowal ' s Victoria Cross and other medals in 1969 . The medal went missing sometime in the 1970s , apparently stolen , and was sold to an antique shop along with some Hawaiian coins in the mid - 1990s . The shop owner believed the medal was a fake , as it was inscribed with " For Valour " – evidently not realizing that all VCs awarded to Canadians had the English motto . ( The source of confusion was the fact that a new Canadian VC was introduced into the Canadian Honours System in 1993 , bearing the Latin motto " Pro Valore " ) . The medal was rediscovered when the shop owner offered it to the Jeffrey Hoare Auction House in London , Ontario in April 2004 . A British collector discovered the auction and notified Lubomyr Luciuk , co - author of a booklet about Konowal , who took steps to have the medal secured . It was recovered by police , and returned to permanent display at the War Museum on 23 August 2004 , 87 years after it was awarded . Trial . On 19 July 1919 , Konowal accompanied Leontiy Diedek , a friend and fellow veteran , to a particularly rough area in Hull , Quebec . The two men went for dinner at a restaurant ; Diedek left early in order to look at some bicycles at the home of William Artich , an ' Austrian ' bootlegger and bicycle salesman . Konowal became aware of a commotion and went to investigate . A fight had started between Artich and Diedek . By the time Konowal arrived , Diedek had been viciously beaten and Artich was armed with a knife . Konowal managed to gain control over the weapon and killed Artich with a single stab to the chest . Konowal did not attempt to flee the scene ; when police came , the First World War veteran stated , " I ' ve killed fifty - two of them , that makes the fifty - third . " Veterans rallied around his cause and raised enough money to bail Konowal in October 1919 ; the trial ended up being postponed three times , finally beginning in 1921 . After extensive tests , it was discovered that Konowal was suffering from serious medical problems stemming from war wounds : pressure on his brain was increasing and his condition was continually deteriorating . Medical experts unanimously agreed that a wartime gunshot wound to the head was likely making Konowal mentally unstable ; the jury agreed and he was found not guilty by reason of insanity . Konowal was institutionalized for seven years . By the end of this period , his condition had improved dramatically . Unfortunately , tragedy struck once again when Konowal attempted to contact his family in Soviet Ukraine : his wife had died during the Soviet famine of 1932 – 1933 ( the Holodomor ) and his daughter was nowhere to be found .