World War I Victoria Cross Recipient. He was gazetted for the award on August 20, 1915 for his actions as a captain in the 7th Squadron of the British Royal Flying Corps on July 31, 1915 over Oster-Bruges-Ghent, Belgium. Born at Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, England, he attended Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, England and Balliol College in Oxford, England. Following the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, he joined The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) of the British Army and became a captain in its 3rd Battalion. After serving on the Western Front in France for a few months, he trained to become a pilot and transferred to the 7th Squadron of the British Royal Flying Corps. After being wounded during a reconnaissance mission for which he won the Victoria Cross, he died as a result of his wounds in De Panne, Belgium at the age of 27. His Victoria Cross citation reads: "Captain John Aidan Liddell, 3rd Battalion, Princess Louise's (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders), and Royal Flying Corps. For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty on 31st July, 1915. When on a flying reconnaissance over Ostend-Bruges-Ghent he was severely wounded (his right thigh being broken), which caused momentary unconsciousness, but by a great effort he recovered partial control after his machine had dropped nearly 3,000 feet, and notwithstanding his collapsed state succeeded, although continually fired at, in completing his course, and brought the aeroplane into our lines- half an hour after he had been wounded. The difficulties experienced by this Officer in saving his machine, and the life of his observer, cannot be readily expressed, but as the control wheel and throttle control were smashed, and also one of the under-carriage struts, it would seem incredible that he could have accomplished his task." In addition to the Victoria Cross, he received the Military Cross, the 1919-15 Star, the British War Medal (1914-20), and the Victory Medal (1919-19, with Mentioned in Despatches oak leaf). His Victoria Cross and other medals are on display in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery of the British Imperial War Museum in London, England. A memorial in his honor was erected in the Scottish Naval and Military Residence in Edinburgh, Scotland and also in the chapel at Balliol College.