[
    {
        "id": 210625,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1985",
        "page_number": 232,
        "title": "RAS-1985",
        "content_text": "213\n\nAs a result of the day's action, the Company was almost wiped out but with the odds heavily against it, it had covered itself in glory. But courage on its own, sadly, had not been enough.\n\nDetails of the Warrant Officer's exploits were not officially known until after the war. Even then records vary slightly, which is not surprising, as there is often some confusion in the heat of battle, and, afterwards, many were not left to tell the tale. However in this case one of the six survivors, speaking on behalf of the group, said it was hard to express how much they owed to Osborn's gallant sacrifice.\n\nOn 1st April 1946, the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross Britain's highest decoration for conspicuous bravery or devotion in the presence of the enemy was made to CSM H6008 John Robert Osborn.\n\nThe citation reads:\n\n“CSM Osborn was an inspiring example to all throughout the defence, which he assisted so magnificently in maintaining against an overwhelming enemy force, for eight and a half hours, and in his death he displayed the highest quality of heroism and self-sacrifice\".\n\nEx-Grenadier Harry Atkinson told me that Sergeant Pugsley, who is now dead, as well as Corporal Hall, were both there when Osborn threw himself on the grenade. Atkinson also said it was, in his opinion, a well deserved Victoria Cross and Osborn was a brave man.\n\nOsborn left a wife, Margaret Elizabeth, and a family who then lived at Saint Vital, Manitoba, Canada. Some members of the family now live in Winnipeg.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 210626,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1985",
        "page_number": 233,
        "title": "RAS-1985",
        "content_text": "214\n\nMuch later in 1958, Foulden learned of the Victoria Cross and the brave deeds of one of its sons, who had been born in a caravan, and who had become legend. However nothing appears to exist in writing in the village, and his name is not on the war memorial. Few people remember him. Nevertheless Mr. B.W. Billman, who was born in 1901 and is the oldest inhabitant, was proud to tell me:\n\n\"Of course I remember him! We sat in the same class. But I did not realise, at the time, he was so 'special'. He was just a quiet, likeable, country boy...\"\n\nWarrant Officer Osborn was officially listed as \"missing\" and there is no known grave.\n\nHis name does, however, appear on the memorial at Sai Wan Bay War Cemetery in Hong Kong. Also, on November 5th, 1981, a statue of a World War I soldier, which had formerly stood in the grounds of Eucliffe Castle, at Repulse Bay, the site of a brutal massacre of British and Canadian soldiers, in World War II, by the Japanese invaders, was unveiled in \"Osborn Barracks\" in Kowloon Tong. These barracks are named after Hong Kong's only recipient of the Victoria Cross.\n\nThe statue was donated by the Eu family, and the plaque, which was unveiled by Mr. Allen Kilpatrick, past Canadian High Commissioner, reads:\n\n\"Erected here in memory of WOII John Robert Osborn VC, Winnipeg Grenadiers, and through him all those men and women, service and civilian, and of every race, colour and creed, whose secret acts of gallantry and self-sacrifice in the defence of Hong Kong, December 1941, went unnoticed and unrecorded\".\n\nOf the Canadians I spoke to in early December 1985, who had returned to the scene of the battle, probably ex-Sergeant Robert (Bob) Manchester remembers Osborn best.\n\n\"He was a determined man and an experienced soldier.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x",
        "rank": 0
    }
]