Vimy Ridge Centenary

[Surpmil]

My dad went over the top that day with the 2nd Battalion CMGC he was 19.. Awarded the MM and would never talk about Vimy other than a little bit about the training they did before the assault.

He went back when the dedicated the Monument in 36 and once more in 74 with my mom.

Still have his brochures etc. from the 36 visit, his Sam Brown and medals and a photo from the 1931 Re-union of the Officers of the CMGC.

He never thought anything of the MM, was proud of his 1914-15 Star.

The MM came to be called the "Maconachie Medal"; as though it was handed out like the tinned "pie" of that name. It was also a cheap substitute for the DCM and way for the authorities to avoid paying the £10 bounty that went with the DCM.

Thirty six men from the CEF were awarded the MM and two bars. When you read some of the citations it is clear they could as easily have been awarded the DCM and many others would have been for the same acts.

It did also come down to whether your officers wanted to recommend you, and if they did, you got it whether you had earned it or not. Conversely, if you were disliked you could get nothing no matter what you did, but this is the sort of stuff that most chose to leave out of their memoirs. One who did not mentioned that some of those in his battalion who had won the MM fairly refused to wear them on parade since the medal had also been awarded to some of the "court favourites" in the battalion who had not earned them.

War is said to bring out the best and the worst, and the best and the worst in them!