1917: On the Western Front, every officer in a company of the Royal Fusiliers fell casualty during an attack near Courcelette. Nevertheless, Lance-Sergeant Palmer ignored heavy fire at point-blank range to painstakingly cut a path through entanglements of barbed wire, then rushed an enemy machine-gun nest and captured it. Gathering the survivors of the company, he established a barricade which he then defended against no less than seven fierce counter-attacks. Running out of grenades, he went back to the British lines for a fresh supply. In his absence, an eighth counter-attack finally dislodged his men. But returning, Palmer led them back to retake the position, and hold it. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.

1940: The German supply ship Altmark, carrying 299 British merchant seamen captured by the pocket battleship Graf Spee during her raiding voyage in 1939, sought sanctuary from the Royal Navy in neutral Norwegian waters at Jossing Fjiord. Since the German ship had breached Norwegian neutrality, Captain Vian in HMS Cossack ignored Norwegian efforts to stop him and pursued Altmark, coming alongside her that evening to liberate the British prisoners.

1942: Lieutenant Roberts and Petty Officer Gould, of the submarine HMS Thrasher, won the Victoria Cross for a remarkable act of bomb disposal.

Petty Officer Thomas Gould was serving as Second Coxswain aboard the submarine HMS Thrasher during a patrol off Crete, 16 February 1942. Thrasher succeeded in sinking a merchantman in a convoy, but then came under very heavy attack from escorts and enemy aircraft, with about 33 depth charges dropped on her.

Eventually, Thrasher got clear, and surfaced at nightfall to recharge her batteries. An unusual clicking sound was heard near the gun, and the First Lieutenant, Lt Roberts, and PO Gould went forward to investigate. They discovered an unexploded 100lb bomb lodged in the deck of the submarine's casing. The two men managed to lift the bomb from the hole it had made, and carefully carried it to the bows, where they safely dropped it overboard. However, upon returning to the damaged section of casing, they spotted a second bomb, wedged between the casing and the pressure hull of the submarine. The only way to get to the bomb would be to crawl along the hull in the two-feet high gap below the casing, between pipes. The submarine was still in enemy-controlled waters, and if it had to submerge whilst the men were in the casing, they would be drowned since the casing was free-flooding.

Roberts and Gould nevertheless entered the casing, and crawled by torchlight to the bomb. Ominous noises could be heard from it, but Gould eventually managed to work the bomb loose. Then, clutching the bomb in his arms as he lay flat, he was slowly pulled along by Roberts some twenty feet to an access grating. Eventually, after 40 minutes struggle in the cramp, wet and dark of the casing, they were able to lift the bomb clear and it was thrown overboard. Both men received the Victoria Cross for their heroism. Thomas Gould retired from the Royal Navy as a Lieutenant in 1945 & passed away at the age of 87, in 2001

1944: Major Hoey led a company of the Lincolnshire Regiment in an attack on Japanese positions in the Arakan region of Burma. The company became pinned down by fire from a Japanese strong point, whereupon Hoey went forward alone, despite having already been wounded in the head and a leg. He succeeded in eliminating every defender in the position, but was then mortally wounded. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

1945: Again in Burma, Jemadar Prakash Singh commanded a platoon of 4/13th Frontier Rifles, defending against massive Japanese attacks. Prakash Singh was wounded in both legs, and his second-in-command took over the leadership of the unit. However, he was in turn badly wounded; Prakash Singh then crawled back to the firing line and resumed command. He suffered another pair of wounds in his legs, but continued to drag himself about on his hands to direct the defence. A fifth wound proved fatal, but even as he lay dying, he continued to encourage his men, shouting out a traditional Dogra war-cry; his men succeeded in holding the position, despite the odds against them. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.