Every one a hero
Side by side, all the living George Cross and Medal winners
THEIR ranks have numbered special agents, bombdisposal technicians, unarmed police officers and a ten-year-old girl confronted by a man-eating cougar.
More recently, they have included Lisa Potts, the Wolverhampton teacher who used her body to shield her pupils from a machete attack, and Jim Beaton, the royal protection officer who was shot foiling a kidnap attempt on Princess Anne.
One day, perhaps, someone will manage to tot up the lives saved by this exclusive club. The figure certainly runs into the thousands, if not tens of thousands. But no one was counting yesterday as the current membership enjoyed an historic reunion for the 75th anniver- sary of our two highest decorations for civilian gallantry, the George Cross and the George Medal.
‘It’s humbling to be with this lot. Some of their stories are incredible,’ said Matthew Croucher GC. Most would say the same of Mr Croucher, a Royal Marines reservist who threw himself on a booby-trapped device in a Taliban bomb factory in 2008 and lived to tell the tale.
But like everyone else, he had no wish to dwell on his own heroics yesterday. This was an occasion to salute the courage of others.
It was in September 1940, as Britain endured the Blitz, that King George VI sought recognition for extraordinary heroism on his doorstep. Bravery on the battlefield could be rewarded with decorations such as the Victoria Cross. But how to recognise great courage elsewhere? The result was the George Cross and the George Medal.
Most of the 162 GCs and 2,000 GMs granted over the subsequent 75 years were awarded in wartime, many posthumously. The memory and courage of all of them live on through those who proudly wear King George’s creations to this day. And yesterday morning, for the first time, all surviving GCs and GMs gathered in London to mark the 75th anniversary.
First port of call was the Mall and
a wreath-laying at the statue of George VI. Thence, to the Royal Hospital Chelsea for a service of commemoration, an official photograph, a curry lunch and commemorative medallions dispensed by the Duke of Kent.
‘It’s funny, but this is the first time I’ve worn my medal in public,’ said Lisa Potts, who received her GM from the Queen in 1997, before meeting the only other woman among the 43 recipients on parade yesterday. Margaret Purves GC was just 14 when she dived into the sea near Cardiff in November 1949 to save two Scouts from drowning.
‘It’s a pity more people aren’t recog- nised these days,’ said Mrs Purves, reflecting on bygone GCs, among them Doreen Ashburnham. At the age of ten, she had fought off a Canadian cougar that was trying to eat her young cousin. ‘Now she was fairly formidable,’ Mrs Purves laughed.
But who, among all this lot, was not?