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Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 564, 30 November 1915, Page 6

The 'number of those whose gallantry is recognised by medal or cross in this war is small in proportion to the number whose lives have been sacrificed with a heroism that has passed unnoticed, or at le,ast unrecorded in conflicts where all have been heroes, but those who have

won decorations we may accept as proxies for unrecorded valour as much as we honour them for their own deeds. A message received today gives the names of twelve more New Zealanders who have been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for gallantry shown in the assault on Gallipoli Hill 60. Since the Military Gross is reserved for warrant officers, lieutenants, and captains, the D.C.M. is the equivalent order for privates and noncommissioned officers; there is but one military decoration which is above it, and that is the highest which may be gained by officer or private—the Victoria Cross. The bare outline in which the cable message summarises the deeds by which our men gained their honours is sufficient to indicate their heroic nature—many of them, had they been performed in a war of less magnitude, a war in which heroism was less common merely because the numbers were fewer, would doubtless have gained the highest of all. But the most encouraging thing about this war is that it has proved the commonness of valour, and New Zealanders have every reason to be proud of the fact that the gallantry of their stock h::s ranked with the highest, and men who bear the badge of that heroism deserve all honour from us, not only for their individual deeds and qualities, but also because they represent the valour of all those who have fallen.