THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MODERN HEROISM 179
Admiral Everett fought a desperate rearguard action against the consensus
of the committee in an effort to exclude women. He constantly broke in on
the other members as Ponsonby polled them for their official departmental
positions. When Colonel Graham reported that the War Office supported
the position of Sir Douglas Haig, Everett interrupted to insist that the field
marshal had qualified his approval with the requirement that sentimentality
not be allowed to enter into the recommendation process, which ‘as long as
we are men and women you cannot do it.’^50 That argument was shot down
by the RAF representative, who pointed out that the award passed through
a hefty approval process which would serve to eliminate any sentimentality
on the part of the recommending officer.
Ponsonby tried to get the meeting back on track; in his estimation they
were beating a dead horse, as the possibility of a woman ever performing
an act heroic enough to win a VC was highly unlikely. Everett shot back
that the mere mention of them in the warrant would induce women to go
out and try to commit some daring deed, which simply was not their place.
It was the proper avocation of the male to seek glory, but an aberration
for a woman to do so. Ponsonby managed to break in long enough to
ask Graham if the War Office was in favor of the proposal and get an
affirmative.
Once Everett had given the expected Admiralty disapproval, Colonel
Gordon indicated the India Office’s support of the idea. Everett turned his
ire on Gordon: ‘Do you not see any danger of lessening the high standard
for the V.C. if you apply it to women?’^51 Colonel Graham answered that
question with the same response More had used to knock down the senti-
mentality objection: the selection process would insure the rejection of
spurious or undeserving recommendations and guard the standards of the
award. Temporarily out of ammunition, Everett held his tongue while the
chair finished the polling and announced the result that women would be
eligible and included in the warrant.^52
Once the decision to include women had been taken, it was necessary
to establish exactly how their inclusion would be worded in the warrant.
The ultimate decision was to mention them in the preamble along with the
other qualified groups and modify the gender-specific clauses in the body of
the document to a gender-neutral phrasing. Everett fired off his last salvo, a
request that the preamble carry a disclaimer that the Admiralty did not approve
of their inclusion. The request was denied and the issue was resolved.^53
The remaining business before the committee was the formalization of
the posthumous Victoria Cross. Here the debate revealed some surprising
misconceptions. Graham opened the issue with a recitation of the development
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