As some of you might be aware, I am currently reading The Canadians in Italy, by Lt.-Col. G.W.L Nicholson. I'm finding this book to be absolutely amazing and as soon as I'm done reading this book I will be doing an extensive review on it in case others may decide to read it. But, I current have a question I'd like to ask, if this question has been asked before I apologize. I just read a part in this book in which a fellow named Capt. Buchanan earned a bar to the Military Cross which he had won early in 1943 while serving in North Africa. He later took part in the Normandy landings where he earned a second bar to his M.C. What exactly does it mean to win a bar? Or two..what is a bar? Sorry if this is a dumb question
No such thing as a dumb question. Bars are awarded to the MC in recognition of the performance of further acts of gallantry meriting the award. So if he merited a second award of the MC, he would add the bar to his medal. So in his case, he earned the MC three times.
Ike is correct about no dumb questions. If you don't know the answer, it isn't dumb. Here is a picture of the MC with two bars. View attachment 15077 Commendations - 1st Aerial Battalion
In U.S. terminology, it is about equivalent to an "oak leaf cluster", signifying additional awards of a medal. DocL
