The Green Howards, - Medals Won by the Regiment

When you enter the medal room in the Green Howards Regimental Museum at Richmond, you are met by an array of over 3,000 glittering medals. Every medal displayed in the museum is either a personal legacy from the soldiers themselves, or by their families. The regiment regards them as being personal permanent memorials.

To the left of the entrance is a large glass cabinet displaying Victoria Crosses won by Green Howards since the Crimean War, - 18 bronze Crosses, emblazoned with a lion standing guard over the royal crown and a scroll underneath bearing the words 'For Valour', hung by a simple crimson ribbon. Alongside this cabinet is another containing the miniatures of three men who were awarded the silver George Cross suspended from a blue ribbon. Above each medal is a photograph of the recipient and the citation for the act of courage for which the medal was awarded.
Most visitors halt before this display and many are moved with emotion as they read the citations. All describe outstanding deeds of gallantry.

A visitor to the Museum's Medal Room admiring part of the display.

Eighteen Victoria Crosses have been awarded to members of the regiment over the past 150 years. Three members of the regiment have been awarded the George Cross, which ranks immediately after the Victoria Cross.

The men who won the Victoria Cross or the George Cross, their citations, and further details on the actions in which these medals were won, are described in a separete section of this Web site.

To find out more about the Green Howards' Victoria Cross and George Cross holders, select here

The "Times" published an article, "A Memorial to Honour the Bravest" on 2 December 2002 to help publicise the VC and GC Memorial Appeal. This article, however, sheds an interesting insight into the two decorations and you may like to read it. To do so, simply select the icons below.

An article was published in the February 2003 edition of "Medal News" in which Kevin Morris carried out some fascinating research into the military career of this particular soldier of the 19th Foot. His work, and the resulting article will be of immense interest to those researching the military careers of similar soldiers, or collectors of military medals of the period. The medals concerned were the Crimea Medal with clasps for Alma, Inkerman and Sevastopol, Turkish Crimea Medal and India General Service Medal 1854 with North West Frontier clasp.
These medals are similar to ones are held in the Green Howards Museum, and which were awarded to Corporal P Thompson of the 19th Foot.