THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF MODERN HEROISM 181
The meeting moved fairly quickly through the changes embodied in the
new draft. The rewriting of the introductory clause was approved without
comment; it was merely a modernization of the old substance. The Clause
II, relating to the design of the ribbon, was called into question as an
unnecessary point to make in a warrant, and was bracketed for possible
removal (it appears in the final warrant). The committee finally got to the
meat of the day with the discussion concerning Clause III, governing the
circumstances meriting the award of the Cross.^58
The clause was extensively reworked and tightened, narrowing the
defined limits of Victoria Cross heroism and reflecting the new, aggressive
style of the Western Front. The new wording:
It is ordained that the Cross shallonlybe awarded for conspicuous bravery
or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice or extreme
devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.^59
Replaced the less forceful Victorian:
It is ordained that the Cross shall only be awarded to those Officers or
Men who have served Us in the presence of the enemy, and shall have
then performed some signal act of valour or devotion to their country.^60
The new framing made it clear that the award was for combat; as Morgan
carefully pointed out, all was keyed to the final phrase ‘in the presence of the
enemy.’ The qualification had also been moved up in the document from
Clause V to Clause III to indicate an increase in importance. The discussion
on this topic indicated that there were those of the committee who wanted
an even tighter regulation of heroism, cutting out noncombatants entirely;
there were other awards for life saving that should suffice to recognize such
acts. Given that the only two men to have won bars to the Cross by 1918 had
done so in a noncombatant medical capacity,^61 and that the most-decorated
other rank in the Army, Lance Corporal William Harold Coltman, won all
of his gallantry awards as a stretcher-bearer,^62 the position was untenable.
The desire, however, was evident.^63
Also reflecting the aggressive nature of modern warfare was the injection
of Clause IV, covering posthumous VCs. It was passed without debate or
comment, as the lethality of the modern battlefield had been burned into
the collective conscious of all those present.
Clause VI, delineating those eligible for the award was the longest in
the new warrant. The idea in this instance was to produce a definitive list
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