Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1941. FOR VALOUR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 7, 20 October 1941, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1941. FOR VALOUR.

The reports of the fighting in Greece and Crete received at the time of the campaign showed the New Zealanders had performed feats of valour that will stand out in the military annals of the Empire. It is therefore not surprising, though most gratifying, that three members of the Expeditionary Force have been awarded the highest distinction for valour —the Victoria Cross. There are many heroes of the two campaigns who, so far as posterity is concerned, will be unnamed and unsung, but even those who go unrewarded for gallant deeds will join in the congratulations showered upon the recipients. The manner in which New Zealanders fought in Greece filled the people of the Dominion with pride, but the twentieth century defence of the storied land of Crete was an epic in the history of the youthful nations of the south that aroused the admiration of the whole world. To win fame among so many heroes one must perform miracles of courage, leadership and endurance. Dunkirk was an epic of heroism in the mass. In'the Battle of Britain last year men and women bore themselves with a common courage in the face of trial and terror. In the continuing war at sea, in outposts of the African desert, in the vast arena of the skies the lists of the courageous, named or un-named, are lengthening as conflict persists in its stern testing of the human spirit.