For over 100 years the Distinguished Conduct Medal – the DCM – was
the second highest medal that could be awarded for gallantry to the other ranks
of the British army and in some cases also the RAF and Royal Navy, yet the
holders of this major award have rarely been given the recognition they deserve.
And while the heroic exploits of recipients of the Victoria Cross have been the
subject of repeated accounts, DCM holders have largely been ignored in
print.
But now in this graphic narrative history Matthew Richardson sets the
record straight by describing the conspicuous courage of men who have been
awarded the DCM in the Crimean and the colonial wars, in the two world wars, and
during recent conflicts in the Falklands and the Gulf. Told often in their own words,
their extraordinary acts of bravery and self-sacrifice are the central focus of
his book. Characters such as Frank Bourne, who received the award for his
conduct at Rorke’s Drift, are celebrated here, as is John Brown who received his
DCM for work inside a German prisoner of war camp in the Second World War, John
Meredith who was awarded his DCM for leadership while a prisoner of the Japanese
on the Burma railway, and Peter Ratcliffe who was given the DCM for an SAS
mission in the Gulf. But alongside these famous names are the many, many other
DCM holders of equal gallantry whom history has overlooked.
Profusely illustrated with photographs from the author’s collection
including DCM holders from the Boer War, Gallipoli, the Western Front, and the
battlefields of the Second World War, Matthew Richardson’s book will appeal to
everyone who is interested in British military
history.
