John Bamford

John Bamford

John Bamford GC (born 7 March 1937 in Newthorpe, Nottinghamshire is the youngest person to have been directly awarded the George Cross. On 19 October 1952, aged 15, he rescued two boys from a house fire in Newthorpe. He took four months to recover from the injuries he sustained.

However, because in 1971 the Albert Medal and Edward Medal became eligible for exchange for a GC, he lost this record to David Western, who had won the Albert Medal in 1948.

Citation

A fire broke out in a house occupied by a man, his wife and six children, and in a very short time was burning fiercely. John and his father went downstairs and upon opening the living room door at the foot of the stairs the interior of the room burst into flames. Owing to the intense heat they were unable to get back upstairs to the rest of the family. They ran out through the front door, climbed on to the top of a bay window which gave access to a bedroom, opened the window and helped three of the children and the mother on to the flat roof. John Bamford and his father then climbed into the bedroom where they could hear the two remaining children, aged 4 and 6, shouting in the back bedroom, situated immediately above the seat of the fire. The bedroom doors at the head of the stairs were enveloped by flames. The father draped a blanket around himself and attempted to reach the children but the blanket caught fire and he was driven back. John Bamford then told his father to go to the back of the house while he got down on his hands and knees and crawled through the flames into the bedroom.
His shirt was completely burned upon him but nevertheless he snatched the two young boys from the bed and managed to get them to the window. He dropped the younger boy from the window into his father's arms but the elder boy struggled from his grasp. Bamford could then have got out himself but he left the window and chased the screaming child through the flames across the room. He eventually managed to catch him and throw him from the window.
By this time Bamford was fast losing consciousness. He was terribly burned on the face, neck, chest, back, arms and hands but he managed to get one leg over the window sill and then fell to the ground.
John Bamford displayed courage of the highest order, and in spite of excruciating pain succeeded in rescuing his two brothers."

External links

* http://www.gc-database.co.uk/recipients/BamfordJ.htm


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • John Bamford Slack — Sir John Bamford Slack (11 July 1857 11 February 1909) was a British politician, member of the Liberal Party and Methodist lay preacher.He was elected to the House of Commons for the division of St Albans 27th Parliament (1900–1906) at a by… …   Wikipedia

  • Bamford (disambiguation) — Bamford may refer to:Places*Bamford, Derbyshire, England *Bamford, Greater Manchester, England, a suburb of Rochdale *Bamford, Cotswold, a fictional place in Ann Granger s Markby and Mitchell mysteriesPeople*Edward Bamford, a British Captain in… …   Wikipedia

  • John Slack — ist der Name folgender Personen: John Bamford Slack (1857–1909), britischer Politiker John M. Slack (1915–1980), US amerikanischer Politiker Diese Seite ist eine Begriffsklärung zur Unterscheidung mehrerer mit demselben Wort bezeichneter Beg …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Bamford Church — St John the Baptist church St John the Baptist …   Wikipedia

  • Bamford — infobox UK place country = England latitude= 53.3485 longitude= 1.6894 static static image caption= Bamford Mill. official name= Bamford map type= Derbyshire population = 1184 shire district= High Peak shire county = Derbyshire region= East… …   Wikipedia

  • John Aubrey — For other people named John Aubrey, see John Aubrey (disambiguation). John Aubrey Born 12 March 1626 Died 7 June 1697 (aged 71) Nationality English …   Wikipedia

  • Simon Bamford — Infobox Actor imagesize = name = Simon Bamford capation = birthname = Simon John Bamford birthdate = 1960 location = Peterborough, England, UK deathdate = deathplace = occupation = film actor othername (s) = Simon J. Bamford Simon Bamferd Simon R …   Wikipedia

  • Joyce Bamford-Addo — Rt. Hon. Joyce Adeline Bamford Addo Bamford Addo in parliament Speaker of Parliament (4th of Fourth Republic) Incumbent …   Wikipedia

  • James Bamford — Infobox Writer name = imagesize = 200px caption = James Bamford pseudonym = birthdate = birthplace = Natick, Massachusetts, United States deathdate = deathplace = occupation = Author nationality = American period = genre = writes about United… …   Wikipedia

  • Maurice Bamford — (born Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England) is a former rugby league player and coach.[1] He also went on to write several books on rugby league.[2] Playing career He attended Sacred Heart Roman Catholic School in Leeds. He was introduced to… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”