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[continuation of the article on Victoria Cross winner#REDIRECT [[Alan Arnett McLeod]]]
It was certain that both McLeod and Hammond would receive recognition for their gallant fight, and in a very few days McLeod received word that he had been awarded the Victoria Cross. Hammond, he learned, had been awarded a Bar to the Military Cross for his part in the fight. The following announcement appeared a little over a month later in the London ''Gazette''.
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<P ALIGN="RIGHT">"London ''Gazette'' no. 30663, <BR>
Air Ministry, <BR>
First May, 1918.
"His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to award the Victoria Cross to the undermentioned officer of the Royal Air Force, for services displaying outstanding bravery:
Second Lieutenant Alan Arnet McLeod, Royal Air Force.
'While flying with his observer, Lieutenant A. W. Hammond, M. C., Attacking hostile formations by bombs and machine gun fire, he was assailed at a height of five thousand feet by eight enemy triplanes which dived at him from all directions, firing from their front guns. By skillful maneuvering, he enabled his observer to fire bursts at each machine in turn, shooting three of them down out of control. By this time, Lieutenant McLeod had received five wounds, and while continuing the engagement, a bullet penetrated his petrol tank and set the machine on fire.
'He then climbed out on to the left bottom plane, controlling his machine from the side of the fuselage, and side slipping steeply kept the flames to one side, thus enabling the observer to continue firing until the ground was reached.
'The observer had been wounded six times when the machine crashed in "No Man's Land", and Second Lieutenant McLeod, nor withstanding his own wounds, dragged him away from the burning wreckage at great personal risk from heavy machine gun fire from the enemy lines. This very gallant pilot was again wounded by a bomb while engaged in the act of rescue, but he persevered until he had placed Lieutenant Hammond in comparative safety, before falling himself from exhaustion and loss of blood."
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The official announcement of Hammond's award appeared about the same time.
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"On March 27, 1918, while flying with his pilot, 2nd Lieutenant A. A. McLeod, east of Albert, attacking hostile troops and transports with machine gun fire and bombs from five thousand feet, he was attacked by 8 enemy triplanes which dived from all directions firing their front guns. Lieutenant Hammond fired bursts at each machine in turn, shooting three of them down out of control.
"During this engagement, he was wounded 6 times. He was continuing fire on the enemy planes, when a bullet penetrated his petrol tank, setting the machine on fire. The pilot 2nd Lieutenant McLeod, although wounded five times, with great skill and coolness managed to climb on to the left hand bottom plane, and controlled the machine from the side of the fuselage, sideslipping to the ground. Lieutenant Hammond, despite his wounds and surrounded by flames, continue to fire upon the enemy machines while descending. The machine crashed in " No Man's Land". 2nd Lieutenant McLeod managed to extricate Lieutenant Hammond from the flames and heated bombs and dragged him to a shell hole, from which they were both subsequently rescued by our infantry under heavy fire from the enemy lines."
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Less than a year before, a cheery robust boy left the schoolroom at Stonewall. Before his nineteenth birthday he had received the supreme decoration for valour in the gift of the British Crown, and had the unique distinction of being the youngest Canadian and the youngest British flying officer to receive this great honour. For months he lay between life and death, but by the beginning of September appeared to be well on the road to recovery.
On September 4, he attended the investiture at Buckingham Palace accompanied by his father, who had been in London for some time and had been constantly by his bedside during the summer. His one regret was that due to a spell of sickness he had been unable to accept an invitation to himself and his father to have lunch with the King at Windsor Castle.
A few days later, Alan MacLeod and his father left for Canada and arrived on September 30 in Winnipeg, where he stopped on his way home to Stonewall. At Winnipeg he was given a great public reception which might easily have been turned the head of a lad so young, but he met all the flattery and praise with the same modest reserve he had always displayed, and was entirely unaffected by it.
Almost immediately his health began to return, and in a short time he looked himself again. But in late October he contracted the virulent form of influenza, which was then raging through Canada and the United States and with the weakened condition of his lungs he had a relapse and died in Winnipeg, November 6, 1918.
Often in France McLeod and his two closest companions Hammond and Key, had discussed what they would do after the war, and each of his English friends had talked of coming to Canada afterward. McLeod was gone, and to both of them it was a very serious loss indeed, but they have come to Canada as they intended, and Key is now in Toronto and Hammond in Winnipeg.
Superlatives are not out of place in describing Alan McLeod's short career. Apart from sheer bravery nothing but the highest personal merit would call for such letters of congratulations as he received from his commanding officer, Major Willfred R. Snow, and the Commander of the first wing, to which the second squadron belonged, Lieutenant Colonel E. D. Gossage.
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<P ALIGN="RIGHT">France,
4-5-17.
Dear McLeod,<BR>
A thousand congratulations. It has been a long while coming through, but that only makes one more delighted now that it is out. Everyone is very booked about it and for myself I cannot tell you how pleased I am. It is first Victoria Cross in the First Brigade and will be the last, I expect. The first ever gained, to my knowledge, in a Corp Squadron. You have done more for the name of the Squadron than a dozen others will do till the end of the war.<BR>
<CENTER>Kindest Regards,<BR>
Yours Sincerely, <BR>
Wilfred R. Snow</CENTER>
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<P ALIGN="RIGHT">"First Wing, R. A. F.<BR>
B. E. F.<BR>
3-5-18.
"Dear McLeod,<BR>
I write to congratulate most heartfelt in having obtained the most coveted honour which is possible to obtain in the British army, and if ever the many brave deeds which have gained it have truly earned it, yours most certainly has.
I am more proud than words can tell that I should have had the honour to command the wing while you were in it and obtained the Victoria Cross.
Not only does it reflect the greatest credit to yourself, but also upon the excellent squadron in which you served. Your earlier achievements in the squadron would in the earlier days of the war have earned you reward, but I felt sure from what I had seen and heard of you that given the chance, you would have put up a most magnificent show-and I was not wrong!
Once more I congratulate you and your observer on the most remarkable and plucky how it has ever been my privilege to record.
<CENTER>With all best wishes.<BR>
Ever Yours Sincerely,<BR>
E. D. Gossage,<BR>
Lieut. Col.<BR>
Commanding 1st Wing, R. A. F."</CENTER>
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To which should be added in conclusion the words of Dr. David Christie, of Westminster Church, Winnipeg, which appeared in the Manitoba Free Press on the evening of November 7th, the day after his death.
''"Alan McLeod was the finest flower of chivalry. The old days of knighthood are over, but for the very fairest blossoms of the spirit of knighthood the world has had to wait till the 20th Century. It was these dauntless boys who have saved civilization. The heroism of the Crusades pales before the incredible and quiet courage of such boys who gave us a new interpretation of Calvary. I saw Alan within a few hours of his death. He faced the last enemy with the same joyous confidence with which he started on what he called the very happiest part of his life. For our children's children names like Alan McLeod's will be written in letters of splendour in the annals of Canada."''
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