EDMONTON — The British Commonwealth’s highest award for gallantry in the presence of the enemy was unveiled at Edmonton’s City Hall Monday morning.
Mayor Don Iveson, members of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment and the family of Private Cecil J. Kinross displayed the Victoria Cross.
“For Edmontonians and Canadians to have the opportunity to see a real life Victoria Cross medal and to be able to see it in our own City Hall is a great honour for the City of Edmonton and fitting for Remembrance Day week,” said Iveson.
Private Kinross was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1917 for his actions during the Battle of Passchendaele, in the First World War.
Kinross volunteered to serve with the 49th Infantry Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, now known as the Loyal Edmonton Regiment.
When the battle of Passchendaele was over, 145 of the nearly 600 members of the battalion survived. Kinross was seriously injured but lived.
His family had been searching for a location to display the Victoria Cross in order to honour Kinross’s bravery and allow Albertans to see the award.
“Canadians there’s something very regal about you because you revere the common man, the ones that held the rifle, fired the shots, are at the front lines, the one that did the work,” said John Kinross Kennedy, nephew of Private Cecil J. Kinross.
There have been only 99 Victoria Cross awards handed out in Canada.
In October of this year, in honour of its centennial year, the Loyal Edmonton Regiment conducted a grave marker re-dedication ceremony at the Lougheed Memorial Cemetery to honour Kinross.
Kinross died in Lougheed, Alberta in 1957. A mountain near Jasper and a street in Edmonton’s Griesbach neighbourhood are both named in his honour.
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