Walter Cooke, a retired business executive residing in Toronto, was puzzled to find he couldn't get a straight answer to a simple enough question—how many Canadians have earned a Victoria Cross? There should be absolutely no ambiguity in answering such an important fact of Canadian History.

Several reasons were offered for the variance.
In some cases immigrants were excluded despite the fact they were serving in a branch of Canada's Armed Forces when they earned their award. In other instances Canadians serving with the armed forces of another country such as Great Britain or India were omitted. On occasion the names of the recipients whose award pre–dated Canadian Confederation were included; usually they were not.

Contempt for Danger identifies all Canadian recipients of the Victoria Cross as well as immigrants who earned a Victoria Cross while serving with Canadian Forces. Readers learn who they are, their feats of valor, and what became of them. Readers also become aquainted with many other Canadian military heroes.

So, what is the answer to the question—how many Canadians earned the Victoria Cross?

Ninety–two Victoria Crosses have been awarded to Canadian military personnel and Canadians serving with other Commonwealth countries–five recipients in the Boer War, seventy–one in the Great War and sixteen in World War 2.