Victoria Cross vs medal

Victoria Cross and medal both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
Victoria Cross	Yes	No	No	No
medal	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, medal is a hypernym of Victoria Cross; that is, medal is a word with a broader meaning than Victoria Cross:

Victoria Cross: a British military decoration for gallantry
medal: an award for winning a championship or commemorating some other event

Other hypernyms of Victoria Cross include decoration, laurel wreath, medallion, palm, ribbon.

Victoria Cross (noun)	medal (noun)
a British military decoration for gallantry	an award for winning a championship or commemorating some other event