GALLANTRY GRANTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 December 1945, Page 8

GALLANTRY GRANTS

NEW ZEALAND RECIPIENTS | Cash grants for gallantry to New 1 Zealand soldiers, sailors, and airmen I during the war already amount to i more than £17,000. These grants are of £2O each for the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, Distinguished Service i Medal, Distinguished Conduct Medal, i Military Medal, and Distinguished I Flying Medal, with an additional £2O 'for each bar. An annuity of £lO for life is granted to winners of the Victoria Cross below commissioned rank. Only men below commissioned rank are eligible for these grants, and they receive the money on discharge or on appointment to a commission. If they are discharged on a pension, the grant is replaced by an extra 6d a day towards the pension. The grants to New Zealand servicemen to date total i £17,480, but the whole of this money has not been paid out as some medal winners have not been discharged. Those who were appointed to a commission received the £2O automatically, but the position of men discharged on a pension is still under discussion.

Army personnel have been the principal winners of these grants. A statement issued on October 26 by the Minister of Defence (Mr. Jones) showed that they had won 95 Distinguished Conduct Medals and 488 Military Medals, one bar to the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and four to the Military Medal. Since then the (award of nine more Distinguished Conduct Meals and 59 Military Medals has been announced, bringing the total Army grants to £13,120. In the Royal New Zealand Air Force airmen have won 176 Distinguished Flying Medals, five Conspicuous Gallantry Medals, and three Military Medals, while one D.F.M. winner received a bar to his decoration. These medals entitle the recipents to grants totalling £3700. The Royal New Zealand Navy has only 33 medal winners entitled to grants, which total £660. These are for 32 Distinguished Service Medals and one Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. ■ Three Victoria Cross winners are entitled to the £lO annuity. They are Sergeant J. D. Hinton, Sergeant A. C. Hulme, and Second Lieutenant K. Elliot, who was a sergeant when he won his decoration. If an annuitant is unable to obtain a livelihood, the annuity may be increased to £75. Where the Victoria Cross is awarded posthumously," £5O is paid to the recipient’s estate. For winners of a bar to the Victoria Cross the annuity is increased to £ 15. But Captain C. H. Uoham, and Captain N. Chavasse andCaptain A. Martin-Leake, Royal Army Medical Corps, who are the only winners of a bar, have all been ineligible for an annuity, being commissioned at the time. Another New Zealand soldier who received a small annuity with a foreign decoration is Second Lieutenant J. Denvir, D.C.M., who was awarded the Soviet Medal foi' Valour. Tfiis decoration carries with it an annuity of approximately 120 roubles a year.