John Cruickshank
recipient of the Victoria Cross
John Alexander Cruickshank, (20 May 1920 – 9 August 2025) was a Scottish banker, Royal Air Force officer, and a Second World War recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Cruickshank was awarded the VC for sinking a German U-boat and then, despite serious injuries, safely landing his aircraft. Before his death, he was the last living recipient to have been awarded the VC during the Second World War.
Early life
Born on 20 May 1920 in Aberdeen, Scotland, Cruickshank was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Aberdeen Grammar School and Daniel Stewart's College. He was apprenticed to the Commercial Bank in Edinburgh.
Military service
Within a year, on his father's suggestion, Cruickshank joined the Territorial Army, enlisting in the Royal Artillery in May 1939; he served there until the summer of 1941 when he transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He underwent flight training in Canada and the United States, earning his wings in July 1942. On 10 July, by then a sergeant, he received an emergency commission as a pilot officer in the RAFVR. He was promoted to flying officer (war-substantive) on 10 January 1943. After further training, he was assigned to No. 210 Squadron in March 1943, piloting Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats, flying from RAF Sullom Voe in Shetland.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6227806. VIAF identifies the subject as 250249096. The Library of Congress control number is nb2012013266. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1920, 2025, 1939 and 1941.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Cruickshank” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.