Medals

By Lord Ashcroft

First published in the Telegraph Magazine on Saturday, 26 January 2019.

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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 magazine has four pages on the life and bravery of Sergeant William Pickering, who was awarded the Military Medal (MM) for sustained bravery at the end of the Second World War. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC has had a new-look “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 a new design for the four-page write-up on the life and bravery of Major Sir Tasker Watkins, VC, GBE, PC, QC, DL. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

First published in the Sunday Express on Sunday, 11 November 2018.

By any standards, this is a momentous day: Armistice Day, Remembrance Sunday and the centenary of the end of the First World War.

Momentous days in history deserve to be marked in a significant way and this is why I hope that November 11 2018 will, for many decades to come, be recalled for the “r” word: reconciliation. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

First published in the Daily Express on Tuesday, 06 November 2018.

All is tranquil and peace­ful on the River Sambre in northern France. Trout swim in the water, wild ducks fly overhead and the only noise, other than birdsong and church bells, comes from the occasional vehicle that rumbles over Quartes Bridge. It could hardly be a greater con­trast to the events of exactly a cen­tury ago today when, amidst an atmosphere of apprehension and danger, Major Brett Cloutman risked his life under heavy fire to take part in what was to become the last Victoria Cross action of the Great War. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

First published in Britain at War in November 2018.

Air Commodore Ferdinand Maurice Felix West VC, CBE, MC: skill

Ferdinand Maurice Felix West was born in Bayswater, central London, on 29 January 1896. He was the son of Lieutenant Francis West, of the East Lancs Regiment, and his wife Clémence (née Comtesse de la Garde de Saignes). Francis West was killed in 1902 during the Second Boer War, when his son was just five years old and his widow was just twenty-six. (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 November issue of the magazine has a three-page write-up on the life and bravery of Air Commodore Ferdinand Maurice Felix West VC, CBE, MC, who was born in Bayswater, central London, in January 1896. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

First published in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, 01 November 2018.

Let relatives of soldiers from the former Rhodesia honour their Great War fallen at the Cenotaph​

On Remembrance Sunday, which this year marks the centenary of the end of the Great War, more than 100 people, including war veterans and their supporters, are due to gather on the north side of Westminster Abbey for a military parade. With the former servicemen standing ramrod straight and their Rhodesian regimental colours hoisted proudly into the air, they will hold a discreet service to commemorate their country’s war dead. (more…)

By Lord Ashcroft

First published in the Daily Express on 30 October 2018.

FOR THE FALLEN
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

For me, the above extract is the most enduring passage of any war poem and on Remembrance Sunday it will be heard at memorial services up and down the country. (more…)

By lordashcroft.com

To mark the centenary of the battle of Le Quesnoy by New Zealand forces in WWI, Lord Ashcroft has written an article for the New Zealand Herald, published on Saturday, October 27 2018.

Lord Ashcroft has also presented a short film on the action, shot and edited during a recent visit to France by Julian Simmonds, an award-winning photographer. (more…)