POLISH V.C.

Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22790, 14 January 1944, Page 5

POLISH V.C.

Award To New Zealand Airman (8 pm.) LONDON, Jan. 12. Poland’s Victoria Cross—Virta or Silver Cross, which is the highest militarv award a Pole can win— has been awarded to Wing Commander A. H. C. Boxer, of Hastings. No account of how he won the award can be given until after the war. Wing commander Boxer won the Distinguished Flying Cross last March. The citation then stated that he carried out several long-range sorties. Once when hundreds of miles from his base one of his engines failed, but he reached his base safely. Sometime later he completed a return flight from a district target under similar circumstances. He is a very reliable and determined pilot. Wing Commander Boxer married Assistant Section Officer Pamela Sword. W.A.A.F.. in November. 1941. Wing Commander Boxer was accepted as a member of the Civil Reserve of pilots in 1937, and gained his civil pilot's A licence as a member of the Marlborough Aero Club. Blenheim. He was subsequently selected for a short service commission in the Royal Air Force and left New Zealand in September. 1938, for training in the United Kingdom. , „ ' ' Wing Commander Boxer was bom at Hastings in 1916. He received his secondary education at Nelson College. where he passed the University Entrance examination. At college he was a member of the first XV and a prominent all-rounder at other sports. His mother is Mrs R. I. D. Boxer, of Long L- kout. Nelson.