the colonel Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 It is well known that model soldier Henry Hook VC, won his medal at rourkes drift whilst serving as the hospital cook. Now to be a cook at that point in time he would have had formal training , as French chef alexis soyer sorted out army food during the Crimean war and instituted what was to become the army chef. So even though the 24th claim the medal and rightly so as at that point cooks were at regimental level, it still leaves the fact an army cook won a VC ,,,,, bet that really annoys the REME lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OD33 Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 that's very interesting! What is a VC medal? Hardly similar, but I knew a Vietnam vet who was a cook in an infantry unit of the 173rd AB Brigade with a CIB. Turns out, he was automatically turned into an infantryman when their positions were attacked and he never returned to the kitchen afterwards... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mav352 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 @David Grigsby. Hi, the VC is the Victoria Cross the highest honour a member of the British armed forces can win. Your equivalent is the Medal of Honor. Hope this helps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davejb Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Hook was badly portrayed as a malingerer in the film and quite a few complaints were received from family ancestors, but like any other soldier you had training in fieldcraft and weapons, if you had a trade you went that way, His VC was rightly deserved, but he looked nothing like the actor Booth who portrayed him, in fact he was,nt a patient, he was assigned, among a few others, to protect the patients in the hospital,which he did, he had received good conduct pay a few days before Rourkes Drift. I believe he left the army 18 months afterwards and died in the 1900s and his grave depicts the care and respect attributed to this hero 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davejb Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 As a footnote A friend of mine ,who sadly is no longer with us, made it his hobby to research and create models on the whole Rourkes Drift episode, he even visited the areas at the Drift, The models were all hand painted by him and stood about 3 1/2 inches high, he even made a scale model of the Drift including Zulus , I think his wife later sold all his collection that numbered about 300 figures, they were fantastic and colourful, I ,ve never seen another collection like it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the colonel Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 2 hours ago, Davejb said: Hook was badly portrayed as a malingerer in the film and quite a few complaints were received from family ancestors, but like any other soldier you had training in fieldcraft and weapons, if you had a trade you went that way, His VC was rightly deserved, but he looked nothing like the actor Booth who portrayed him, in fact he was,nt a patient, he was assigned, among a few others, to protect the patients in the hospital,which he did, he had received good conduct pay a few days before Rourkes Drift. I believe he left the army 18 months afterwards and died in the 1900s and his grave depicts the care and respect attributed to this hero yes @Davejb I'm aware of the film incident and his families disgust with how he was portrayed ,,,, we ACC vets quite like old henry, he often comes up in converstion on our corps groups along with ACC lads that were awarded gallantry medals 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davejb Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 I have never understood why he was portrayed like that in the film, surely a simple bit of research would have given his character in the film a much better insight into his bravery, nor did I understand why Colour Sargeant Major Bourne did,nt get a VC, he was a mainstay in the battle, cool, calm and a hard fighting man and only got the DCM, mind you he finished his career as a High Ranking officer, but was,nt he the youngest CSM in the British Army at that time, 28 years old? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OD33 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 what movie are y'all talking about? Is it something I can get over here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davejb Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 You must have heard of ZULU its one of the great movies, Michael Caine, Stanley Baker, are two of the main characters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OD33 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 33 minutes ago, Davejb said: You must have heard of ZULU its one of the great movies, Michael Caine, Stanley Baker, are two of the main characters Oh gosh!!!! I haven't seen that movie since I was a kid! I'll be sure to get a dvd copy as soon as possible and watch it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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