Daphne Pearson

Joan Daphne Mary Pearson GC (25 May 1911, Bournemouth – 25 July 2000, Melbourne) was an English Women's Auxiliary Air Force officer during World War II and one of only thirteen women recipients of the George Cross, the highest medal for gallantry not in the face of an enemy that can be awarded to a citizen of the United Kingdom.

Early life

Pearson was born at Christchurch, near Bournemouth. When her father was appointed as vicar of the parish of St Helens on the Isle of Wight, her family moved there, to a house facing France across the English Channel; she later said that was the first time in her life she considered joining the Navy. She boarded at St Brandon's School, Bristol, away from her parents, who lived together in the parishes her father looked after. After training and working as a photographer and photographic assistant, she joined the WAAF as a medical orderly after war broke out in 1939.

George Cross

In the early hours of the morning on 31 May 1940 a bomber of No. 500 Squadron RAF undershot on approach to an airstrip near the WAAF buildings in Detling, Kent, crashing into a field. Upon landing, a bomb exploded, killing the navigator instantly, and leaving the pilot seriously injured. Corporal Pearson entered the burning fuselage, released the pilot from his harness and removed him from the immediate area around the aircraft. After she was 27 metres (30 yards) from the aircraft, a bomb exploded. She flung herself on top of the pilot to protect him. After medical staff had removed the pilot she went back to the plane to look for the fourth crew member, the radio operator. She found him dead.

Several weeks after the incident, she was commissioned as an officer in the WAAF and served in RAF Bomber Command until the end of the war.

After the revocation of the Empire Gallantry Medal and its replacement by the George Cross, she was reinvested with the George Cross by King George VI on 31 January 1941. She was the first woman to receive the award.^[1]

Citation

The full citation was published in the London Gazette on 19 July 1940 and reads:^[2]

“

CENTRAL CHANCERY OF THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD - St. James's Palace, S.W.1. 19th July 1940. The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the following Awards: The Medal of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for Gallantry:— 880538 Corporal (now Assistant Section Officer) Joan Daphne Mary Pearson, Women's Auxiliary Air Force On May 31st 1940, an hour after midnight, an aircraft crashed near the Women's Auxiliary Air Force quarters at Detling in Kent, the pilot being seriously injured, another officer killed outright and two airmen slightly injured. Upon hearing the crash Corporal Pearson rushed out an although she knew there were bombs on board she stood on the wreckage, roused the pilot who was stunned, released his parachute harness and helped him to get clear. When she got him about 30 yards (30 m) from the wreckage a 120 pounds (50 kg) bomb went off and Corporal Pearson threw herself on top of the pilot to protect him from the blast and splinters. She remained with him until a stretcher party arrived and then returned to the burning aircraft to look for the fourth member of the crew. She found him - the wireless operator - dead in the bomber. Her prompt and courageous action undoubtedly helped to save the pilot's life.

”

Later life

Pearson visited Australia in November 1969, on the first flight of the Comet IV on the Heathrow to Darwin route, and decided to emigrate there, working in the Victoria region as a horticulturist first at the Department of Agriculture and later at the Commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation. She attended reunions of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association until her late eighties.

Her attendance of a meeting of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association led to a report about her in a Sunday newspaper in 1995, and eventually to her meeting the pilot whose life she had saved, after his son recognised the circumstances surrounding his rescue.

See also

• George Cross
• List of George Cross recipients
• Women's Auxiliary Air Force
• Women's Royal Air Force

References

1. ^ The Times Obituary notice for DAPHNE PEARSON, GC July 26, 2000. Accessed 9/1/07
2. ^ London Gazette: no. 34900. p. 4434. 19 July 1940. Retrieved 2007-11-21.

External links

• The Times:Obituary
• Australian Women Archival/Heritage Resources - Papers
• Australian Women Archival/Heritage Resources - Biography
• One Step Further and www.gc-database.co.uk - Joan Daphne Mary Pearson
• In War and Peace:the Life and Times of Daphne Pearson ISBN 978-185418-211-1
• George Cross awarded to Daphne Pearson - Dame Laura Knight