John Alexander Cruickshank | |
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Born | Aberdeen, Scotland |
20 May 1920
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | Royal Air Force |
Years of service | 1939–1946 |
Rank | Flight Lieutenant |
Unit | No. 210 Squadron RAF, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Awards | Victoria Cross |
Other work | Banker |
John Alexander Cruickshank, VC (born 20 May 1920) is a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Cruickshank was awarded the VC in sinking a German U-boat and then despite serious injuries safely landing his aircraft.
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Early life
Born on 20 May 1920 in Aberdeen, Scotland, Cruickshank was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh,[1] Aberdeen Grammar School and Daniel Stewart's College.[2] He was apprenticed to the Commercial Bank in Edinburgh.
Military service
Within a year, on his father's suggestion, he joined the Territorial Army, enlisting in the Royal Artillery in May 1939, serving there until the summer of 1941 when he transferred to the RAF.[2] He underwent flight training in Canada and the US, earning his wings in July 1942. After further training, he was assigned to No. 210 Sqn. in March 1943, piloting in Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats, flying from Sullom Voe.
Sullom Voe in Shetland is now known for its oil terminal, but during World War II it was a flying-boat base, used by 210 Squadron of the Royal Air Force 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 Atlantic. There the "Cat" found a German Type VIIC U-boat on the surface.
At this point in the war the aerial threat to the U-boats meant that they were fitted with anti-aircraft guns and Cruickshank had to fly the Catalina into the hail of flak put up by the U-boat. On that first pass his depth charges did not release. Despite this he brought the aircraft back round for a second pass and this time straddled the U-boat with his charges sinking it with all hands. Cruickshank's VC citation refers to the U-Boat as U-347, although it is now known that it was actually U-361 and that it went down with all 52 crew members.
The German flak however had been deadly accurate, killing the Catalina's navigator and injuring four including the second pilot Flight Sergeant Jack Garnett and Cruickshank himself. Cruickshank had been 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 the injured Garnett at the controls and Cruickshank lapsing in and out of consciousness in the back.
Once there Cruickshank 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 safely put the aircraft down, he kept the flying boat in the air circling for an extra hour until he considered it safer and they landed the Catalina on the water and taxied it to an area where it could be safely beached.
When the RAF medical officer boarded the aircraft he had to give Cruickshank a blood transfusion before he was considered stable enough to be transferred to hospital. John Cruickshank's injuries were such that he never flew in command of an aircraft again and after the war he returned to his pre-war job of banking. 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 life
He left the RAF in September 1946 to return to an earlier career in banking. He retired from this in 1977.
In March 2004 the Queen 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 VC's were awarded to Coastal Command in the war; the others were posthumous.
He is a living recipient and the last surviving VC for action in World War II.
He is Vice Chairman of The Victoria Cross and George Cross Association along with Rambahadur Limbu.
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
- John Cruickshank
- U-361 (details on the U-boat from this action)
- London Gazette Citation