Victoria Cross recipients to be honored

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. - Two recipients of the British Empire's highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross - Cpl. Filip Konowal and Maj. Jack K. Mahony - will be honored in a special ceremony at The Armory of The Royal Westminster Regiment, 530 Queen's Ave., on Saturday, April 5, at 11 a.m.

Cpl. Konowal received the Victoria Cross for valor during the Battle for Hill 70, near Lens, France, in 1917. Maj. Mahony was honored for his heroism during the Battle of the Liri Valley, in Italy, in 1944. They were both members of the 47th Battalion, now known as The Royal Westminster Regiment.

Cpl. Konowal has also been recognized with trilingual plaques installed in the Cartier Square Drill Hall, regimental home of the Governor General's Foot Guards, and at The Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 360, in Toronto.

Honored guests at the ceremony will include Volodymyr Furkalo, Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, Justice John Sopinka and Maj. Gen. N. Bruce Jeffries, CD, commander, Land Forces Western Area.

The commemorative event, which is open to the public, has been organized by the VC Plaque Committee of The Royal Westminster Regiment Association in cooperation with the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Ukrain-ian community of British Columbia and The Royal Westminster Regiment.

J. B. Gregorovich, president of Branch 360 of The Royal Canadian Legion, observed: "By honoring Filip Konowal, in Ottawa, Toronto and, finally, in New Westminster, we have remembered the valor of a Ukrainian immigrant who proved his people's loyalty to Canada. By recounting the heroism of Jack Mahony on the same trilingual plaque we remind all Canadians that these men were brothers in arms, that each of them, as a Canadian, fought to ensure the freedom that we all enjoy today."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 23, 1997, No. 12, Vol. LXV

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