http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/News/2005/01/25/pf-909390.html
Tue, January 25, 2005
Fred's VC now ours to keep
SUN CAMPAIGN PRAISED AS MEDALS HANDED OVER
By BRODIE FENLON, TORONTO SUN
WITH A handshake and a $300,000 cheque, Cpl. Fred Topham's Victoria Cross became ours forever. The low-key handover at the Royal Canadian Military Institute yesterday belied the hundreds of volunteer hours and more than 2,000 donations from across the country -- including more than 1,200 from Sun readers -- spent to save the precious medal from leaving Canada.
Lt.-Col. John Fotheringham, former commanding officer of the Queen's Own Rifles who helped lead the fundraising campaign, thanked Sun readers who "pushed us over the top."
"Their contributions have made it possible that a Canadian hero has become known across the country," said Jan De Vries, president of the 1st Canadian Parachute Association.
Without any government help, the association raised $225,000 and Sun Media newspapers raised another $75,000 to meet the list price set by the executors of the estate of Topham's late widow. They were going to auction off the VC in Britain.
Another $30,000 raised from Sun readers in the campaign will go toward the purchase of other medals that become available in the future.
Topham's service medals and Victoria Cross were exchanged for the cheque yesterday, then placed in the permanent custody of the Canadian War Museum.
Only 95 Canadians have won the VC, and only 16 were awarded in World War II. Topham, a medic with the 1st Paras, was awarded his medal for his actions at the Rhine Crossing parachute drop on March 24, 1945. He was the second-last Canadian to receive a VC in the war.
On that day, Topham kept going into the battle area under fire to bring out the wounded, even after he was shot in the face. When ordered behind the lines for treatment, the paratrooper dashed into a burning armoured personnel carrier to rescue another three men.
"Topham was singled out as an example of bravery, but there were tens of thousands of other soldiers who did the same," Fotheringham said.
"I just thought it was important that we keep (the VC) here so that we can keep his memory alive and also remind Canadians of the sacrifices these guys made."
The Canadian War Museum will put Topham's medals on display in its new Ottawa building set to open in May.
The medals will also be displayed in Toronto on April 30 at the Ricoh Centre and in July at the Canadian Airborne Forces Museum at CFB Petawawa, De Vries said.