John Alexander Cruickshank VC (born 20 May 1920) is a Scottish former banker, former Royal Air Force officer, and a Second World War 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. Cruickshank was awarded the VC for sinking a German U-boat and then, despite serious injuries, safely landing his aircraft. He is the last living recipient to have been awarded the VC during the Second World War. Early life Born on 20 May 1920 in Aberdeen, Scotland, Cruickshank was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Aberdeen Grammar School and Daniel Stewart's College. He was apprenticed to the Commercial Bank in Edinburgh. Military service Within a year, on his father's suggestion, he joined the Territorial Army, enlisting in the Royal Artillery in May 1939; he served there until the summer of 1941 when he transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He underwent flight training in Canada and the United States, earning his wings in July 1942. After further training, he was assigned to No. 210 Squadron in March 1943, piloting Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats, flying from RAF Sullom Voe in Shetland. Sullom Voe, now known for its oil terminal, was a flying-boat base during the Second World War. It was used by 210 Squadron of RAF Coastal Command in its battle to keep the North Atlantic and Arctic sea lanes open for supply convoys. Flying Officer Cruickshank was twenty-four years old when he piloted a Consolidated Catalina anti-submarine flying boat from Sullom Voe on 17 July 1944 on a patrol north into the Norwegian Sea. The objective was to protect the British Home Fleet as it returned from the unsuccessful Operation Mascot raid on the German battleship Tirpitz. There the "Cat" caught a German Type VIIC U-boat on the surface. At this point in the war U-boats had been fitted with anti-aircraft guns as an attempt to counter the aerial threat. Cruickshank attacked the U-boat, flying his Catalina through a hail of flak. His first pass was unsuccessful, as his depth charges did not release. He brought the aircraft around for a second pass, this time straddling the U-boat and sinking it. All 52 crew members were lost. The U-boat was thought to be U-347, as Cruickshank's VC citation states, but the boat was actually U-361. The German anti-aircraft