John Noel Dowland

Squadron Leader John Noel Dowland was awarded the George Cross, as was a civilian, Mr. Leonard Harrison, for his gallantry in defusing a bomb which had fallen on the grain ship SS Kildare in Immingham docks on 11 February 1940. The bomb proved extremely difficult to defuse as it had embedded itself at an extreme angle in the main deck. The citation, which appeared in the London Gazette on the 7 January 1941, noted that he displayed the same " conspicuous courage and devotion to duty in circumstances of exceptional danger and difficulty" when defusing a bomb on a trawler in June 1940. He was born on the 6 November 1914, was 26 years old when awarded the medal, and died on the 13 January 1942.