The Victoria Cross for New Zealand is a military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the New Zealand Armed Forces. It may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service and civilians under military command, and is presented to the recipient by the Governor-General of New Zealand during an investiture held at Government House, Wellington. As the highest award for gallantry in New Zealand it takes precedence over other postnominals and medals. The original Victoria Cross was introduced in 1856 by Queen Victoria to reward acts of valour during the Crimean War. The Victoria Cross for New Zealand was established in 1999 and was awarded for the first (and so far only) time on 2 July 2007, to Corporal Bill (Willie) Apiata for actions in 2004. Due to its rarity, the VC is highly prized and the medal has been sold for over £200,000 at auction. Originally all Commonwealth personnel were issued with the same award, but in the last 50 years, Commonwealth countries have introduced separate award systems; three of these retain "Victoria Cross" as part of the name of the highest award for gallantry. New Zealand created a new award system that replaced several Commonwealth Honours with separate awards.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross_for_New_Zealand

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1551:

The National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, was founded in Lima, Peru. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_University_of_San_Marcos

1885:

North-West Rebellion: Louis Riel and the Métis rebels were decisively defeated by Canadian forces under Major-General Frederick Middleton in Batoche, Saskatchewan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Riel

1941:

German engineer Konrad Zuse presented the Z3 , the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, to an audience of scientists in Berlin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_%28computer%29

1958:

Canada and the United States signed a formal agreement establishing the North American Air Defense Command to provide aerospace warning and defense for North America. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Aerospace_Defense_Command

2008:

An earthquake measuring about 8.0 Ms struck the Sichuan province of China, killing at least 69,000 people, injuring at least 374,000, and leaving at least 4.8 million others homeless. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Sichuan_earthquake

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

quasar (n): (astronomy) An extragalactic object, starlike in appearance, that is among the most luminous and thought to be the most distant objects in the universe http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quasar

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself. --Florence Nightingale http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale