Victoria Cross

Lee on the Solent has a link to the highest bravery award in the United Kingdom, The Victoria Cross.

Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde DSO, a Fleet Air Arm officer who served at the Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Lee on the Solent (former HMS Daedalus), was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for his courage during the "Channel Dash" in February 1942.

Lieutenant Commander Esmonde DSO was already an accomplished pilot when he accepted a commission with the newly formed Royal Naval Air Branch in 1939 and began refresher training at RNAS Lee on the Solent.

On February 12, 1942, Esmonde led an attack against a squadron of German warships, including the battlecruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen that was attempting to sail through the English Channel, known as the "Channel Dash"

Leading his six Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers in a heroic low-level attack, his squadron inflicted at least one torpedo hit on the enemy despite being heavily outnumbered by German fighters and anti-aircraft fire.

Lieutenant Commander Esmonde DSO was shot down and killed during the attack, and all of the Swordfish aircraft were lost. Just five of the eighteen men who took part in the sortie survived.

A memorial to Esmonde and other Fleet Air Arm personnel who lost their lives is located at the Fleet Air Arm Memorial Church in Lee on the Solent