For Valour
As far as is known there have been 118 Freemasons who have been awarded the Victoria Cross since it was first awarded in 18***. Two of those have appeared on stamps who are shown below, together with their Masonic details.
Lt. General Brother Sir Bernard Freyberg V.C.
Born in Richmond, London but spent most of his childhood in New Zealand, attending Wellington College from 1897 to 1904, where he showed his ability as a swimmer On the outbreak of the First World War he immediately returned England and volunteered for service, where he was posted to 7th “Hood” Battalion of the Royal Naval Brigade, and was on the Belgian front in September 1914.
In April 1915 the Brigade was sent to the Dardanelles. There, on the night of 24 April 1915, Freyberg volunteered to swim ashore in the Gulf of Saros to divert the Turks' attention from the main landing. Although under heavy firing, he escaped unscathed and his successful exploit earned him his first D.S.O. After the Gallipoli campaign Freyberg was sent to France. On 13 November 1916, when he was in command of the “Hood” Battalion near Beaumont Hamel, he won the Victoria Cross “by his splendid personal gallantry”. When the war ended Freyberg was a Temporary Brigadier with the 29th Division. He had won the V.C., the D.S.O. and two bars, the C.M.G., was mentioned six times in dispatches, and had been wounded nine times.
After the war he became his country’s Governor-
After the war he became his country’s Governor-
He was initiated in the Household Brigade Lodge No. 2614 on 27 February, 1922, where his ‘occupation’ was given as Lieutenant Colonel: passed on 24 April, 1924 and raised on the 30th of the same month. He resigned from the Lodge in 1931 and was ‘unattached’ until he joined New Zealand Lodge No. 5175, London, where he gave his ‘occupation’ as Governor General of New Zealand.