Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1940. CIVILIAN VALOUR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 302, 28 September 1940, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1940. CIVILIAN VALOUR.

As never before civilians have been thrust into the very front line of battle in this war and it is fitting that the deeds of heroism that have marked this contact of the man in the street with the horrors of total war should be recognised by the award of special medals, which his Majesty announced in his recent broadcast. The George Cross will rank only below the Victorian Cross and will be awarded loy acts of bravery by. civilians in cases that in the Army would have gained the Victoria Cross, while the George Medal, intended for .somewhat wider distribution among civilians, will nevertheless be granted only in cases where a high standard has been attained. It has taken the monstrous deeds of the German leaders in their deliberate attacks on civilians by air bombs and machine-gunning from aeroplanes to bring forth the heroism of the British men and women, and even of the children, in the face of terror and death. Under less trying _ conditions the civilians of other nations have stampeded where the people of the towns of Britain have only held their chins the higher and resolved with greater resolution than ever to face what may come to them and to see the struggle through to a victorious end. That the end will be victorious there can be no doubt when one surveys the manner in which the people of the East End of London, bombed from their humble, homes, bereft of father, mother, children, literally hounded to the raid shelters, are maintaining their morale in an ordeal the like of which has never been visited on a city. Half the story of the deeds that are being recorded in London and other towns of Britain day and night has not been told, but when it is written on the scroll of history, Britishers will be proud they hold the name, a name which his Majesty said, in his broadcast speech, has won a new renown.