TOP OF LOLLIPOPS
KIND lollipop lady Alison Durling, 50, got more than 100 Christmas gifts from grateful families in Beckenham, South London. bring his aircraft home safely, an act of gallantry for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.”
Capt Liddell was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1888 and joined the Army in 1912, taking up flying in his spare time. He was sent to France with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at the beginning of the war.
He was at the retreat from Mons, the Battles of the Marne and the Aisne, and the First Battle of Ypres – earning the Military Cross for his “services on the front line”.
But he became ill in early 1915 and returned to Britain to recuperate before joining the Royal Flying Corps. He flew his first patrol with 7 Squadron on July 29, 1915 and was attacked by a German plane but made it home.
It was two days later that he distinguished himself in the patrol over Bruges.
His VC citation in the London Gazette read: “For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty. The difficulties experienced in saving his machine, and the life of his observer, cannot be readily expressed.”
Capt Liddell’s full-size medals, owned by the Lord Ashcroft VC Trust, are on display at the Imperial War Museum. The family sold them for £85,000 in 1997.
THE bravery medals of a First World War pilot who landed his stricken plane after being knocked out when a bullet shattered his thigh have fetched £5,000 at auction.
Captain John Liddell was making a reconnaissance flight over Belgium in July 1915 when his biplane was targeted.
By the time he came to after being hit, he had plunged 3,000ft and was still under fire.
In addition to the excruciating pain in his leg, the London Gazette told of how “the control wheel and throttle control were smashed, and also one of the under-carriage struts”.
But Capt Liddell regained control and flew for half an hour before landing in friendly territory, saving his observer’s life.
The hero’s leg had to be amputated but the operation failed and he died from HONOUR His Victoria Cross septicaemia. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross – the highest award for valour.
His story emerged after the miniature versions of his VC and Military Cross were sold by auctioneer Dix Noonan Webb in Mayfair, West London.
Oliver Pepys, associate director, said: “Capt Liddell was severely wounded but by a superhuman effort he managed to