HC Deb 26 February 1919 vol 112 cc1732-3
45. Mr. HOHLER

asked the Prime Minister whether posthumous honours are only conferred in the Navy and the Army in the case of those who have earned the Victoria Cross; and will he consider and take steps to confer posthumous honours in the case of all men who have been recommended for them but have lost their lives before they were conferred?

The SECRETARY of STATE for WAR (Mr. Churchill)

My right hon. Friend has asked me to answer this question. So far as the Army is concerned, there is no restriction as to posthumous recommendations for the award of the Victoria Cross. In the case of other orders, decorations, and medals, recommendations for award can be approved if the officer or soldier was alive when the recommendation was initiated. Where, through stress of military operations, the recommending authority was prevented from recording his recommendation prior to the death of the officer or soldier, it being fully his intention of so doing, the recommendation is still valid if the cause of delay is duly certified. This procedure was not in force during the earlier years of the War, and I regret that it is quite impossible to make it retrospective.