Last surviving WW2 Victoria Cross recipient dies aged 105
John Cruickshank, Britain's last surviving World War II recipient, has died at the age of 105. When piloting a Catalina flying boat in June 1944, the flight lieutenant from Aberdeen was honoured for an assault on a German U-Boat. He was the last to die of 181 people who received the country's highest military award for their service in the war. Flt Cruickshank's family announced he died last week and that a funeral will be held in private.
In the attack on June 17th, 1944, the veteran was seriously wounded while shielding British vessels in the Norwegian Sea. He sustained 72 injuries, including two wounds to his lungs and ten to his lower limbs.
During heavy gunfire, the crew detected the U-boat ahead of them and launched the attack with a bombing run during heavy gun fire. However, their bombs did not explode, causing Flt Lt Cruickshank to turn the aircraft around and attack again. He detonated the bombs himself, successfully destroying the submarine. Navigator John Dickson was killed while his copilot and two other crew members were critically wounded, but two others on the crew were seriously wounded. After the attack, Flt Lt Cruickshank refused medical attention and flew the plane back to its base in Sullom Voe, Shetland. Henever returned to operational flying and left the RAF in 1946 for a career in banking.
On August 29, 1944, he was given the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valour that can be given to members of the British and Commonwealth Armed Forces. When King George VI bestowed Flt Cruickshank with the award he was given, he had been lauded for his example of
You don't get involved in that kind of thingdetermination, fortitude, and devotion to serVIce. He rarely spoke about his experiences, saying in 2008:
He was given the opportunity to fly in an aircraft similar to the one he piloted during the war in 2013. A Catalina flying boat was flown over Flt Lt Cruickshank's home in Aberdeen last year to celebrate his 104th birthday.without the need of any awards or any recognition. It was regarded as duty.
