Eric Harden was the only British army medic to be awarded the nations highest honour for battlefield bravery during the Second World War & remains the only rank & file member of the Royal Army Medical Corps to be recognised by the award of the Victoria Cross. As a pre-war member of the St John Ambulance he saw service during the 1940-41 Blitz & later volunteered for the Commandos under-going the same rigorous training as the fighting men before being attached to 45 Royal Marine Commando. He landed with his unit on D-Day & was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the Normandy campaign. During a bitter battle on the Dutch-German border Harden known throughout his unit as Doc was killed saving the lives of wounded men trapped in no-mans l&. Commenting on the posthumous award in a speech to the House of Commons the Secretary of State for War the Rt Hon James Grigg was sufficiently moved by his selfless actions to say: I do not remember ever reading anything more heroic.""