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As a supplement to the previous, I must point out that Al Lowe provided a copy of a report by Scott on 3 June 1917 which added the one detail appearing in the VC citation which did not appear in the original Combat Report (that of the mechanic being shot).
To those who find it implausible that authorities might fear a "colonial" press backlash if Bishop's VC had been turned down, I would point out that Australians and Canadians were not the forelock-tugging hicks that many Americans imagine them to have been. In both world wars there were love-hate reationships all around, and grumbling among the ANZACS and Canadians about many grievances, real and imagined. The Irish vote in Australia may not have been so formidable as in New England - but it was enough to twice defeat conscription referendums. Even the British knew that Canada was divided in its support of the war, and one of the most powerful press barons in Britain was a Canadian - Max Aitken, a.k.a Lord Beaverbrook.
I have seen enough Canadian paranoia - and heard a fair amount from Australians - to believe that, had Bishop been denied a VC, it would most certainly have made it into the papers and produced a savage uproar from Ottawa to the House of Lords - as fierce, impassioned and unreasonable as what has appeared on this Forum.
The fact that he did not deserve one (because there was no corroborating evidence) would have been irrelevant.
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