Герой Корейской войны: Лейтенант Филип Кеннет Эдвард Кертис, кавалер Викторианского креста.

Korean War Victoria Cross winner
the American painter

Lieutenant Philip Kenneth Edward Curtis VC (7 July 1926 – 23 April 1951) was a British Army officer and a 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. Curtis was posthumously awarded the VC for his actions during the Battle of Imjin in the Korean War.

Curtis was born in Devonport in Devon, the only child of John Curtis, a labourer, and his wife, Florence As a teenager he served as a volunteer ARP warden. In 1944 he joined the British Army, but did not go overseas. On 3 May 1946 he was commissioned into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry as a second lieutenant, before being demobilized in 1948 and placed on the reserve of officers. Anthony Farrar Hockley, adjutant of the Glosters at Imjin River, witnessed Lieutenant Curtis' gallant deed, a desperate counterattack to regain a key position lost to the Chinese advance. At sunrise a Chinese attack was repulsed, but the British position was untenable. Below is part of Farrar Hockley's account. Curtis is buried in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery, Busan, Korea.

The VC investiture took place on 6 July 1954. Since Curtis's wife Joan had died before the Korean War, the investiture was attended by his mother, his seven year old daughter Susan and his mother in law, Beatrice Hayes. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry Museum in Bodmin, Cornwall.