John Cruickshank

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox military person John Alexander Cruickshank, Template:Postnominals (20 May 1920 – 9 August 2025) was a Scottish banker, Royal Air Force officer, and a Second World War recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Cruickshank was awarded the VC for sinking a German U-boat and then, despite serious injuries, safely landing his aircraft. Before his death, he was the last living recipient to have been awarded the VC during the Second World War.

Early life

Born on 20 May 1920 in Aberdeen, Scotland, Cruickshank was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Aberdeen Grammar School and Daniel Stewart's College.<ref name="Scotsman">Template:Cite news</ref> He was apprenticed to the Commercial Bank in Edinburgh.<ref name=Turner>Template:Citation</ref>

Military service

Within a year, on his father's suggestion, Cruickshank joined the Territorial Army, enlisting in the Royal Artillery in May 1939; he served there until the summer of 1941 when he transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.<ref name="Scotsman"/> He underwent flight training in Canada and the United States, earning his wings in July 1942. On 10 July, by then a sergeant, he received an emergency commission as a pilot officer in the RAFVR.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He was promoted to flying officer (war-substantive) on 10 January 1943.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> After further training, he was assigned to No. 210 Squadron in March 1943, piloting Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats, flying from RAF Sullom Voe in Shetland.

Sullom Voe, now known for its oil terminal, was a flying-boat base during the Second World War. It was used by 210 Squadron of RAF Coastal Command in its battle to keep the North Atlantic and Arctic sea lanes open for supply convoys. Flying Officer Cruickshank was twenty-four years old when he piloted a Consolidated Catalina anti-submarine flying boat from Sullom Voe on 17 July 1944 on a patrol north into the Norwegian Sea. The objective was to protect the British Home Fleet as it returned from the unsuccessful Operation Mascot raid on the German battleship Tirpitz. There, Cruickshank’s "Cat" caught a German Type VIIC U-boat on the surface.

U-361 under attack

At this point in the war, U-boats had been fitted with anti-aircraft guns as an attempt to counter the aerial threat. Cruickshank nevertheless attacked the U-boat, flying his Catalina through a hail of flak. His first pass was unsuccessful, as his depth charges did not release. He brought the aircraft around for a second pass, this time successful as his charges straddled the U-boat, sinking it with the loss of all 52 crew members. The U-boat was first thought to be U-347, as Cruickshank's VC citation states, but later research suggested that it was actually U-361.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

However, the German anti-aircraft fire had been deadly accurate, killing Cruickshank’s navigator and injuring four other members of the crew, including Cruickshank and the less seriously wounded second pilot, Flight Sergeant Jack Garnett. Cruickshank was hit in seventy-two places, with two serious wounds to his lungs and ten penetrating wounds to his lower limbs. Despite this, he refused medical attention until he was sure that the appropriate radio signals had been sent and the aircraft was on course for its home base. Even then, he refused morphine, aware that it would cloud his judgement. Flying through the night, it took the damaged Catalina five and a half hours to return to Sullom Voe, with Garnett at the controls and Cruickshank lapsing in and out of consciousness in the back. Cruickshank then returned to the cockpit and took command of the aircraft again. Deciding that the light and the sea conditions for a water landing were too risky for the inexperienced Garnett to put the aircraft down safely, he kept the flying boat in the air and circled for an extra hour until he considered it safer, when they landed the Catalina on the water and taxied to an area where it could be safely beached.

When the RAF medical officer boarded the aircraft, he discovered Cruickshank had lost a great deal of blood, and had to give him a transfusion before he was stable enough to be transferred to hospital.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> John Cruickshank's injuries were such that he never flew in command of an aircraft again. For his actions in sinking the U-boat and saving his crew he received the Victoria Cross, while Flight Sergeant Jack Garnett received the Distinguished Flying Medal. Later that month, Cruickshank was promoted to flight lieutenant (war-substantive), with effect from 10 July.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Victoria Cross citation

The announcement and accompanying citation for the decoration was published in a supplement to The London Gazette, reading

Later life and death

Cruickshank left the RAF in September 1946 to return to his career in banking; he retired from this in 1977. In March 2004, Queen Elizabeth II unveiled the first national monument to Coastal Command at Westminster Abbey, London. Cruickshank said in an interview after the ceremony: "When they told me that I was to get the VC it was unbelievable. Decorations didn't enter my head." Four VCs were awarded to Coastal Command in the war; the others were posthumous.

Cruickshank was vice chairman of The Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. He celebrated his 100th birthday on 20 May 2020, becoming the first recipient of the Victoria Cross to reach the age of 100 and the second member of the VC and GC Association after Stuart Archer, a George Cross recipient.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 2024, Cruickshank was presented with the Air Efficiency Award on a private visit by Group Captain (retd) Kemp of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Through research, it was proven that Cruickshank should have been granted the medal over 70 years prior. Cruickshank died on 9 August 2025, aged 105.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>John Alexander CRUICKSHANK VC ED The VC and GC Association</ref>

Awards

(ribbon bar, as it would look today)

• Victoria Cross
• 1939–1945 Star
• Atlantic Star
• Arctic Star
• Defence Medal
• War Medal 1939–1945
• Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal (1953)
• Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977)
• Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002)
• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)
• Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (2022)
• King Charles III Coronation Medal (2023)
• Efficiency Medal (1949)<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>
• Air Efficiency Award, which was awarded 75 years late, in 2024<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Since the King George VI Coronation Medal in 1937, living Victoria Cross and George Cross recipients are automatically eligible for any coronation and jubilee medals that are given following their being awarded the Victoria Cross or the George Cross.

References

Specific

General

• British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997)
• Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
• Scotland's Forgotten Valour (Graham Ross, 1995)
• Symbol of Courage:A History of the Victoria Cross (Max Arthur, 2004)
• For Valour: The Air VCs (Chaz Bowyer, 1992)

External links

• U-361 (details on the U-boat from this action)
• For Valour – 1995 drama-documentary