THE SECOND WORLD WAR VICTORIA CROSS MEDAL GROUP AWARDED TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL DAVIDE CURRIE, 29TH CANADIAN ARMOURED RECONNAISSANCE REGIMENT, HAS BEEN ACQUIRED BY THE CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM IN OTTAWA. |
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4 May 2018 |
Owing to difficulties in obtaining a Cultural Property Export Permit to take the the Lieutenant Colonel David Currie Victoria Cross group out of Canada the overseas purchaser has come to an agreement with the Canadian War Museum for them to acquire the medal group. The Canadian War Museum has recently announced through a press release the acquisition of the David Currie VC group with the support of the Movable Cultural Properety Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the museum's National Collection Fund and contributions from the Brownlee Family Fund along with honorary members of the North Saskatchewan Regiment. The Lieutenant Colonel David Currie Victoria Cross medal group will go on display in the Canadian War Museum. |
THE SECOND WORLD WAR VICTORIA CROSS MEDAL GROUP AWARDED TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL DAVIDE CURRIE, 29TH CANADIAN ARMOURED RECONNAISSANCE REGIMENT, HAS BEEN SOLD AT AUCTION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM BY DIX NOONAN WEBB. |
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27 September 2017 |
The Second World War 'Normandy' Victoria Cross medal group awarded to Lieutenant Colonel David Currie, 29th Canadian Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment, has been sold at a Dix Noonan Webb auction in London, England. The VC group of medals awarded to Lieutenant Colonel Currie were sold in Canadian Dollars. The sale estimate was between CAN $500,000 and CAN $600,000 ( £307,000 and £368,000 ). The sale hammer price realised CAN $550,000 ( £331,682 ). The identity of the purchaser has not been revealed.It is believed the Victoria Cross group was bought by an overseas buyer and therefore a Cultural Property Export Permit would have to be granted to take the VC out of the country. The David Currie VC group had previously been sold by his widow in 1989 to the present owner. For the award of the Victoria Cross [ London Gazette, 27 November 1944 ], St Lambert-sur-Dives, France, 18 / 20 August 1944 Major David Vivian Currie, 29th Canadian Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment ( South Alberta Regiment ).
In Normandy on 18th August 1944, Major Currie was in command of a small mixed force of Canadian tanks, self-propelled anti-tank guns and infantry which was ordered to cut one of the main escape routes from the Falaise pocket. This force was held up by strong enemy resistance in the village of St. Lambert sur Dives and two tanks were knocked out by 88 mm. guns, Major Currie immediately entered the village alone on foot at last light through the enemy outposts to reconnoitre the German defences and to extricate the crews of the disabled tanks, which he succeeded in doing in spite of heavy mortar fire.
David Currie was invested with his Victoria Cross by King Georve VI at Buckingham Palace on the 30th November 1944.
David Currie died on the 24th June 1986 in Ottawa and was buried in the Greenwood Cemetery, Owen Sound. |
Iain Stewart, 4 May 2018