AWARDS FOR BRAVERY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24419, 3 October 1940, Page 9

AWARDS FOR BRAVERY

THE FIR3T GEORGE MEDAL RECIPIENT A COLLIER LONDON, Oct. 1. Lieutenant R. Davies and Sapper G. C. Wylie have, been, awarded the George Cross for their great bravery in removing the huge German bomb deeply embedded near St. Paul s Cathedral. Two other engaged in the task were awarded the M.B.E. Lieutenant Davies’s citation states: y So Conscious was Lieutenant Davies of the danger to. the; cathedral that he' was regardless of risk, end- spared neither-himself nor his men in their efforts to locate the bomb; Lieutenant Davies, in order to his- men frbfri further banger,' drove' the vehicle in which the bomb was fe- . moved arid . personally carried out the disposal. Sapper Wylie actually discovered, arid removed the bomb. His untiring energy, courage, and disregard for danger set an outstanding example to his comrades.” . Sergeant James Wilson, who untiringly supported Lieutenant Davies until the bomb was. finally located and brought to the surface, and Lance-Corporal Herbert Leight, who, besides working with the excavation section, assisted Lieutenant Davies in thg subsequent disposal of the bomb, each receive the medal of the British Empire Order for meritorious service.

■ The George Gross has also been awarded to T.. H. Alderson, detachment leader of the Bridlington rescue services, for consistent gallantry, enterprise, and devotion to duty during air raids. ... Fourteen recipients of the George Medal include three officers of the Dover Fire Brigade and three women.

The first George Medal awarded was to a Northumberland colliery worker, Patrick King, who is a raid warden. He habitually carried a blind woman to shelter during raids. A bomb wrecked the woman’s home and buried her. King dug her out, despite the continued bombing. Among the recipients of the George Medal is Miss Sonia Straw, a 19-year-pld Caterham air raid warden, of whom the official announcement states: “ During an air raid Miss Straw volunteered to give assistance to the wounded While the raid was in progress she attended a number of cases of badly injured women and children, and treated several persons suffering from shock. She carried on entirely by herself \yithout assistance for a considerable time until help came. Her action was most praiseworthy throughout, and she showed great courage and resource.”