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History Section - Sapper GCs


The George Cross was instituted in September 1940 to recognise civilian heroism. King George VI created the award for the men and women of the Commonwealth whose courage could not be marked by any other honour. The silver cross, bearing an image of St George slaying the dragon and the words "FOR GALLANTRY", was designed by Percy Metcalfe and is struck at the Royal Mint. The reverse is plain and bears the name of the recipient and the date of the award. The George Cross is worn before all other decorations except the Victoria Cross.

The King announced the creation of the George Cross in a broadcast to Britain and the Empire on the 23rd September 1940. In his speech the King said: "In order that they should be worthily and promptly recognised, I have decided to create, at once, a new mark of honour for men and women in all walks of civilian life. I propose to give my name to this new distinction, which will consist of the George Cross, which will rank next to the Victoria Cross, and the George Medal for wider distribution." The formal announcement of the new award appeared the following day. The Royal Warrant was published in the London Gazette on 31st January 1941.

The decoration is only awarded "for acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger". It has been awarded directly to 155 people, 84 posthumously, and was bestowed on over 100 recipients during the Second World War. To date 17 members of the Corps (including two members of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers and one member of the Indian Engineers) have been awarded the George Cross.
George Cross
The George Cross

The selection of those listed below has been drawn from the official Corps history (Vols: VIII, IX, and X) and has been done on the principle "Once a sapper, always a sapper". In this case the term "sapper" refers to all those who have been awarded the GC whilst serving with British Empire forces after they had been either commissioned or enlisted as a member of a British or Empire military engineer corps, whatever their rank, speciality or national allegiance.

Also included in the list below are Sapper receiptants of the Albert Medal (AM), Empire Gallantry Medal (EGM) and the Edward Medal (EM).

Albert Medal (AM) - was instituted on 7 March 1866 and named after Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert. It was awarded for gallantry in saving life with at sea or on land. The use of the post-nominal initials AM was authorised in 1918. In 1949 the Albert Medal in Gold was ‘replaced’ by the George Cross (GC), although this was not regulated by a Royal Warrant. In 1971, the award of the Albert Medal ceased and living recipients were invited to exchange their decoration for the GC.

Edward Medal (Industry) (EM) - was instituted on 1 December 1909 and was awarded for acts of bravery in factory accidents and disasters. Like the EM (Mines) it also had two classes: 1st (Silver) and 2nd (Bronze). No 1st class medals were awarded after 1948. Since 1949 the medal was only granted posthumously. In 1971, 1 Silver Medal and 25 Bronze recipients of the Edward Medal (Industry) chose to exchange their EMs for the George Cross (GC).

Empire Gallantry Medal (EGM) - officially called the 'Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Gallantry', was instituted on the 29 December 1922. At the time of the introduction of the George Cross (GC) in September 1940, 108 living recipients of the EGM were obliged to exchange their decoration for the GC.


Name Location Date Location of GC
2nd Lieutenant Wallace Launcelot ANDREWS GC Croydon 26 Aug 1940 Private
Lieutenant Bertram Stuart Trevelyan ARCHER GC Llandarcy, near Swansea, Wales 2 Sep 1940 Private
Captain Herbert John Leslie BAREFOOT GC London 22 Jan 1941 Imperial War Museum
2nd Lieutentant Michael Paul BENNER GC (Posthumously) Grossglockner, Austria 1 Jul 1957 Private
Captain Michael BLANEY GC (Posthumously) West Ham, London 18 Sep 1940 Private
Major Herbert Edgar BURTON, EGM/GC, OBE Whitby, Yorkshire 1 Nov 1914 Royal Engineers Museum
Lance Sergeant William John BUTTON GC Britain 18 Aug 1940 Private
2nd Lieutenant Alexander Fraser CAMPBELL GC (Posthumously) Coventry 17 Oct 1940 Royal Engineers Museum
Lieutenant John Guise COWLEY AM KBE CB Quetta, India 31 May - 1 Jun 1935 Not known
Lieutenant Robert DAVIES GC St. Paul's Cathedral, London 12 Sep 1940 Imperial War Museum
Sergeant Michael GIBSON GC (Posthumously) Coventry 18 Oct 1940 Private
Corporal (Acting Sergeant) Charles Thomas HARRIS EM MSM   22 Jan 1918
Unknown
Corporal James HENDRY GC (Posthumously)
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers
Loch Laggan, Scotland 13 June 1941 Not known
Major Cyril Joseph MARTIN GC MC London 17-18 Jan 1943 Private
Lieutenant Colonel A D MERRIMAN GC OBE Regent Street, London 11 Sep 1940 Private
Lieutenant Edward Womersley REYNOLDS EGM/GC Britain 17 Aug 1940 Not known
Lieutenant John MacMillan Stevenson PATTON, GC, CBE
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers
Weybridge, Surrey 21 Sep1940 Not known
Lieutenant Edward Wormersley REYNOLDS GC Congresbury 17 Aug 1940 Private
Subedar SUBRAMANYAN GC (Posthumously)
Corps of Indian Engineers
Mignano, Italy 24 Feb 1944 Not known
2nd Lieutenant Ellis Edward TALBOT GC MBE Britain 24-25 Aug 1940 Royal Engineers Museum
Sapper George Cameron WYLIE GC St. Paul's Cathedral, London 12 Sep 1940 St. Paul's Cathedral, London

Web links

Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Association at www.army.mod.uk/royalengineers/association/reabd/
George Cross Database at www.gc-database.co.uk

Sources:

History of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vols VIII, IX, X (Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham)
George Cross Database - www.gc-database.co.uk

Designated as a museum with an 'outstanding collection' the Royal Engineers Museum is a charity supported by private funds. Reg No: 295173
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Page revised:
Fri 05-Dec-2008
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