'The least they could do': Veterans push Canada to award its first Victoria Cross

During the U.S. Civil War, soldiers reported witnessing a peculiar phenomenon that later became known as "acoustic shadows" — a place where the sound and fury of a battle went to die in a great, unseen void.

Because of the way the din of cannon and rifle fire reflected off the contours of the surrounding countryside — aided by air temperature and the direction of the wind — great battles could rage in front of them in almost complete silence.

That image aptly describes an impassioned, ongoing debate in this country over how to define military valour, and what a Canadian soldier must do to win the country's highest battlefield honour.

That debate has raged furiously but almost imperceptibly this year among veterans, and even in the halls of Parliament.

At its centre is a growing sense of dismay among some former Canadian soldiers over the military's refusal to recognize some acts of heroism in Afghanistan with the modern version of the Victoria Cross (VC).

The military says that while it handed out more bravery medals per capita than Canada's allies did during the Afghan mission, no single act by a Canadian soldier unquestionably met the "extremely rare standard" needed for the highest honour.

Canada is alone among its major allies in not having honoured any military member with its most prestigious medal. Many with ties to the military community — including former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole — wonder if the VC has been put out of reach for soldiers, sailors and aircrew today.

It's a personal matter for some former soldiers.

"It was always kind of stuck in the back of our minds. It just didn't feel right that nobody got the VC, [that] everyone else gave one out," said retired corporal Bruce Moncur, who was gravely wounded when an American ground attack jet accidently strafed Canadian troops in Afghanistan at the start of the milestone 2006 battle known as Operation Medusa.

More than 40,000 Canadian military members took part in the Afghan campaign — Canada's longest-ever overseas military campaign. For many of them, the fact that no Canadian who fought in Afghanistan has ever received the VC leaves them feeling as though their war, their devotion and sacrifice, somehow didn't quite measure up.

"We do feel forgotten. We do feel that our sacrifices are being brushed under the rug, and we do feel as if, you know, there's so many elements of us that just get overlooked," said Moncur. He pointed out that while Canadians mark notable First and Second World War events — even heroic, bloody defeats like Dieppe in 1942 — "we don't commemorate the anniversaries of what we just did" in this generation's war.

Those are fighting words on the eve of Remembrance Day.

"As somebody that fought in Afghanistan, as somebody that bled and got shot, I am outraged by the fact that a lot of the guys did not get their proper respect and dues for what they did over there. It's literally — quite literally — the least they could do," said Moncur.

While Canada did not award its modern version of the Victoria Cross for actions in Afghanistan, it did present a host of lesser awards, including 20 Stars of Military Valour (the second-highest designation), 89 other bravery medals and more than 300 "mentions in dispatches" — an official written report to command headquarters describing an individual soldier's gallant conduct.