Medals

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The March issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Rear-Admiral Sir Anthony Cecil Capel Miers, who was decorated with the Victoria Cross (VC) for outstanding bravery as a submariner during the Second World War.

Miers was born in Birchwood, Inverness, in November 1906 and he was proud of his Scottish and military roots. He joined the Royal Navy as a special entry cadet in 1925 and soon received a series of promotions. He was a fine officer but his career suffered setbacks too because he was so controversial, short-tempered and outspoken. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

First published in the Mail on Sunday on 01 March 2020.

Man-eating sharks on the prowl in the Channel… German sailors incinerated when we set the sea on fire… Propaganda radio station that wooed the Nazis with porn…

It was Sir Winston Churchill who said: ‘In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.’ For the last four years of the Second World War, the role of bodyguard was played – in part at least – by a highly secretive government department called the Political Warfare Executive.

While it was left to our Armed Forces to defeat Hitler on land, at sea and in the air, the least known of the UK’s nine wartime secret intelligence organisations conducted an unrelenting psychological campaign against the Nazis. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The February issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Wing Commander Hugh Malcolm, who was decorated with the Victoria Cross (VC) for outstanding bravery in the skies during the Second World War.

Born in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Malcolm was commissioned into the RAF in December 1937. In May 1939, shortly before the outbreak of war, he was so badly injured in a crash during a practice flight that he was told he would never fly again. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The January issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Staff Sergeant William Cosgrove, who was decorated with the Victoria Cross (VC) for quite outstanding gallantry – not to mention incredible strength – during the Gallipoli landings of the Great War. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The December issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Subadar (equivalent to captain) Khudadad Khan, who was both the first Muslim and the first Indian to receive the VC. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

First published in The Mail on Sunday on Sunday 10 November 2019 .

As we honour the fallen, Lord Ashcroft recounts their heroic stories.

The sleepy Norfolk village of Whissonsett, population 488, is mentioned in the Domesday Book commissioned in 1085. Yet it also has another claim to fame that is apparent from a village sign erected, by chance, exactly 900 years later.

For the sign, unveiled in the summer of 1985 just a stone’s throw from the village church, honours the memory of two remarkable brothers: Derek and Hugh Seagrim. They are the only siblings ever to be awarded, separately, their country’s foremost gallantry awards: the Victoria Cross (VC) and the George Cross (GC). (more…)

By lordashcroft.com

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The November issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Company Sergeant Major Edward Thomas Chapman, who was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for bravery during the Second World War. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

In December last year, I travelled to a secret location just outside South Africa’s famous Kruger National Park to report on a unique project.

The location was, and still is, secret because it is where dozens of young rhinos, some only weeks or months old, are brought when they are found abandoned and orphaned: in almost all cases their mothers have been brutally shot and dehorned, sometimes while they are still alive, by poachers.

So if the evil poachers knew the location of the Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary, they could go there in search of easy pickings: some of the older rhinos have well-established – and therefore valuable – horns. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Published in The Mail On Sunday on 06 October 2019.

• The ‘Dig Hill 80’ project is situated on the outskirts of Wytschaete in Belgium
• It gives an unprecedented snapshot of life on the front line from 1914 to 1918
• Flare guns, medals, water bottles, bullets and an HP Sauce bottle were found

This week more than 80 soldiers who perished during the Great War will finally be laid to rest with full military honours close to where they fell on the Western Front.

These burials, including those of 13 British soldiers who were killed more than a century ago, are the result of one of the most extraordinary archaeological discoveries of modern times. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had his latest “hero of the month” article published in Britain at War, the country’s best-selling military history monthly magazine.

The October issue of the magazine has four pages on the life and career of Major Michael “Bronco” Lane, a true SAS legend following a quite remarkable military career.

Lane, who was born in Manchester, joined the SAS in 1967, six years after enlisting in the Royal Artillery in his home city. In 1976, aged 30, he took part in the Army Mountaineering Association’s expedition to Mount Everest. (more…)