Talk:James Brian Tait

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Untitled[edit]

  Sadly, the Daily Telegraph is not the paper it once was and its Obituaries page has, for some years, been unreliable on detail. The unequivocal statement that Tait is the sole airman to have been awarded the DSO four times is factually inaccurate, as a check on the Wiki entry for Basil Embry will show...

  The exact combination of 4 DSOs married with 2 DFCs is pretty unique, but then 6 gallantry decorations (as opposed to the awards given to senior commanders for distinguished service) is pretty unique among all the Commonwealth nations and all three services for all time. It is hard to view the record of Tait, Embry & Braham and their equivalents in other services (LCol. Pearson, LCol. Mayne and Capt. Walker, RN, etc.) and see them as 'less brave' than the winners of the Victoria Cross.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Protozoon (talk • contribs) 17:10, 26 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Telegraph is probably correct to say that Tait's four DSOs and two DFCs were a unique tally. The article is correct, but misleading, to say that Tait's fourth DSO was itself unique in the RAF: it was unique when awarded in January 1945, but Basil Embry got his fourth DSO that July. Tait's total of six gallantry decorations is not unique among British and Commonwealth airmen: three aces of the Great War, Billy Barker, Mick Mannock and James McCudden, each won six British decorations including the Victoria Cross. (Barker was also awarded three Mentions in Dispatches, the French Croix de Guerre and two Italian Silver Medals, for a total of twelve awards.) Khamba Tendal (talk) 11:35, 6 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]