Hardcover, black cloth cover, the text on the spine in gold-coloured ink, entitled "The Story of the George Cross", by Brigadier The Right Honourable Sir John Smyth, VC, MC, copyrighted by the author in 1968, published by Arthur Barker Limited, printed in Great Britain by Ebenezer Baylis & Son, Limited, The Trinity Press of Worcester and London, SBN 213 76307 9. As stated in the Introduction: "On September 23, 1940, King George VI announced, in a broadcast to the nation, the creation of a new, and very high, decoration for gallantry which was to be called the George Cross. It was to rank next to the Victoria Cross and to be awarded to men and women for acts of supreme gallantry. The Cross was intended primarily for civilians and its award to members of the Armed Forces was to be confined to actions for which purely military honours were not normally granted. All the King's subjects in the British Commonwealth and Empire were to be eligible for the award and, as in the case of the Victoria Cross, provision was made for its posthumous award. The KIng took immense pains in planning the new decoration." The book begins with a Table of Contents, followed by a List of Illustrations, an Acknowledgements, a Foreword by Air Vice-Marshal Sir Laurence Sinclair, GC, KCB, CBE, DSO with Bar, and an Introduction. It is divided into seven chapters: 1 - The Battle of Britain and the Blitz 1940-2; 2 - Malta - The George Cross Island 1940-2; 3 - The George Crosses of 1942-5; 4 - The George Crosses of the French Resistance Movement; 5 - The George Crosses of 1947-67; 6 - The Empire Gallantry Medallists who were Authorised to Exchange Their EGM for the George Cross; 7 - The Victoria CRoss and George Cross Association. It concludes with two Appendices (I - The George Cross Royal Warrants; II - The George Cross who attended the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the George Cross on 24 September 1965), a two page Bibliography and a six page Index. The book contains 228 pages of text, printed in black ink, on a white paper stock, with a colour plate as the frontispiece, along with fourteen pages of black and white plates placed at four locations throughout the book, on a coated white paper stock, the previous owner's label and stamp placed on the inside front cover and endpaper respectively, measuring 142 mm (w) x 220 mm (h) x 22 mm (d). Near extremely fine.
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