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Introduction

This page contains a complete list of recipients who have been awarded the George Cross.

The list has been divided into the following sections:

• Directly awarded George Cross recipients
• Recipients who exchanged their EGM for the George Cross.
• Living recipients who exchanged their AM for the George Cross.
• Living recipients who exchanged their EM for the George Cross.

The First George Cross

The first recipient of a directly awarded George Cross medal was Thomas Hopper Alderson.

Mr. Alderson was born in Sunderland, Co. Durham, during 1903. He was a Detachment Leader, in the ARP.

Brindlington, Yorkshire, suffered a number of incidents at the beginning of the Blitz in September 1940 and Mr. Alderson, together with other members of his section, rescued many people trapped under the wreckage of demolished houses. In just one of these incidents 6 people were trapped in a cellar beneath the debris of two 5-storey buildings which had been totally demolished. Mr. Alderson worked his way into this cellar by tunnelling 13 to 14 feet under the main heap of wreckage and for 3½ hours he worked in an unceasingly cramped position, and managed to free all the trapped people.

The award of Mr. Alderson's George Cross was published in the London Gazette on 30 September 1940.

Mr. Alderson died in Driffield, Yorkshire, on 28 October 1965. His George Cross is now displayed in the Imperial War Museum's Victoria & George Cross Gallery.

The Youngest GC Recipient

The youngest recipient of a directly awarded George Cross medal is John Bamford, who was aged 15 years 7 months. Mr. Bamford was born in Newthorpe, Nottinghamshire, on 7 March 1937.

In the early hours of the morning of 19 October 1952 a fire started in the living room in  the Bamford home in Newthorpe. John, the eldest of the 6 children, and his Father managed to get Mrs. Bamford and 3 of the children out, but 2 of the boys, aged 6 and 4, were trapped in their bedroom. The wooden stairs of the house had burst into flames and it seemed impossible to get through to the boys, but John fought his way into the room through the flames and found the little boys huddled together, petrified with fright. He put an arm round each and dragged them to the window where he managed to push the younger child out to his Father standing below, who partially broke his fall. The older boy had panicked and rushed back into the burning room, so John had to catch him, drag him to the window and throw him out to his Father. By this time John himself was fast losing consciousness, and was very badly burned on his upper body, but somehow got his leg over the window-sill and forced himself out. All 3 boys were taken to hospital, where the two rescued boys were soon off the danger list, but John did not go home until February 1953, after many skin-grafting operations.

Mr. Bamford's George Cross award was published in the London Gazette on 16 December 52.

Most Recent GC Awards

The George Cross has been very rarely awarded since the end of World War Two. Although intended primarily as a civilian award, the majority of awards have been made to military personnel for acts not coming within the scope of a military gallantry award.

Posthumous George Cross Award

The most recent posthumous award of the George Cross was to Mark William Wright, a Corporal in the Parachute Regiment. The citation was published in the London Gazette on 14 December 2006:

From July 2006, a fire support group of 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, consisting of mortars, snipers, heavy machine guns and anti-tank weapons, held a high ridge feature to the south of the Kajaki Dam in the northern centre of Helmand Province. This group was tasked with defending the dam area from Taliban attack.

On 6 September Lance Corporal Hale was ordered to lead a sniper patrol down the southern side of the ridge in an attempt to engage a group of Taliban fighters that had been reported to be operating on the principal highway to the east of the ridge. Three hundred metres from his main position Lance Corporal Hale stepped on a mine, which blew off one of his legs. Seeing the mine-strike from the top of the ridge, Corporal Wright gathered a number of personnel and rushed down the slope to give assistance.

Fully aware of the risk of entering a minefield in which a casualty had already occurred, Corporal Wright made a conscious decision to enter the mined area knowing he faced a significant risk of initiating a mine. On arriving alongside the injured Lance Corporal Hale, Corporal Wright immediately took command of the incident and directed two qualified medical orderlies to take over the treatment of Lance Corporal Hale.

Conscious of the dangers of operating in a minefield, Corporal Wright ordered all unnecessary personnel to safety and then began organising the casualty evacuation. Realising that Lance Corporal Hale was likely to bleed to death if they attempted to move him back up the steep slope, Corporal Wright called for a helicopter and ordered a route to be cleared through the minefield to a possible landing site.

Corporal Pearson undertook the task, but stepped on a mine and suffered a traumatic amputation of his left leg when moving back across the route he thought he had cleared. Corporal Wright at once moved to Corporal Pearson and began rendering assistance until one of the medical orderlies could take over. In doing so, he again took the risk of setting off another mine. Once again Corporal Wright ordered all non-essential personnel to stay out of the minefield and began sending a further situation report to his headquarters. He also ensured that urgently required additional medical items were passed down the ridge to treat those wounded in the minefield. Shortly afterwards a Chinook CH47 helicopter landed to an offset position from the minefield, but as Corporal Wright stood up to begin making his way to the helicopter he initiated a third mine sustaining serious injuries to his left shoulder and chest area and also to his face. This mine also caused chest injuries to one of the two medical personnel. The remaining medical orderly set about treating Corporal Wright, but was himself wounded by a fourth mine blast which blew off the leg of a soldier treating Corporal Pearson. This blast caused further injury to both Corporal Wright and Corporal Pearson and the medical orderly.

After the fourth mine blast there were now seven casualties still in the minefield, three of whom had lost limbs. All of those injured, including Corporal Wright, were in very real danger of bleeding to death. Medical supplies were becoming exhausted and initial hope of rescue had disappeared as the CH47 helicopter had had to abort its mission.

Despite this horrific situation, his own very serious injuries and the precarious situation of the others in the minefield, Corporal Wright still strove to exercise control of the situation. He did this despite being in great pain and fully aware that he was in danger of bleeding to death. He gave his identification number and ordered those other injured personnel to do so as well in order to assist with their treatment once evacuated. Until eventually evacuated by an American aircraft equipped with a winch, Corporal Wright remained conscious for the majority of the time that help took to arrive. During this period he continued to shout encouragement to those around him and several survivors subsequently paid tribute to the contribution this made to maintaining morale and calm amongst so many wounded men.

Regrettably, Corporal Wright died of his wounds on the helicopter during the transit flight to the field dressing station.

There is absolutely no doubt that Corporal Wright entered the minefield to assist Lance Corporal Hale in the full knowledge of the dangerous situation. He had the option to wait for a mine clearance team to arrive, but decided to take action immediately, realising that conducting a full mine clearance to reach Lance Corporal Hale would take too long and he was likely to die before it was completed. When further casualties occurred he again ordered others to safety, but continued to move around the minefield to control the situation. In doing so he suffred mortal injury but still continued to demonstrate command presence that was so vital to eventually ensuring that all casualties and members of the rescue party were evacuated from the horrific situation.

It is notable that from the time of responding to the first mine strike, Corporal Wright spent three and a half hours in the minefield and that for a significant amount of that time he himself was very seriously wounded and in great pain. His outstandingly courageous actions and leadership were an inspiration to all those around him during an extremely precarious situation. His complete disregard for his own safety while doing everything possible to retain control of the situation and to save lives constitutes an act of the greatest gallantry.

Surviving George Cross Award

The most recent award of the George Cross to an individual who survived performing their gallantry was to Royal Marine Lance-Corporal Mathew Croucher.

L/Cpl Croucher, 24, was part of a company of 40 Commando sent to investigate a suspected Taliban bomb-making factory near the town of Sangin when he set off the trip-wire booby-trap that unleashed the deadly grenade. He dived onto the floor, rolled over and used his backpack - containing a 66mm rocket, a large lithium battery and medical kit - to cover the lethal shrapnel fragments from the coming blast.

When the bang went off he was thrown through the air and suffered just a nose bleed. L/Cpl Croucher was examined by a medic who recommended he should be evacuated but the Marine, who has completed three tours of Iraq, was determined to stay to fight the Taliban and within an hour had shot an insurgent approaching their position.

In an earlier instance of bravery the Marine attended a comrade shot in the chest preventing his lungs from collapsing while under fire for 45 minutes.

Posthumous GC Recipients

This section contains a list of the posthumous George Cross awards that have been made from 1940 until the present time.

The "Gazette" date refers to the issue of the London Gazette that contains the citation of the award. In many cases, this can be several years after the actually deeds performed. For example, in the case of posthumous POW awards the relevant information was not known until the end of the war or discovered as a result of war crimes investigations.

To view the list click here and the list will appear in your browser window. To return to this page use the "back" button on your browser.

Surviving GC Recipients

This section contains a list of the George Cross awards that have been made to surviving recipients from 1940 until the present time. In some cases, the George Cross recipient survived the acts of gallantry for which they were awarded the medal but died later in the war; sometimes before they were presented with their George Cross.

The "Gazette" date refers to the issue of the London Gazette that contains the citation of the award. In many cases, this can be several years after the actually deeds performed. In some instances, the award is gazetted sometime after the deeds were performed.

To view the list click here and the list will appear in your browser window. To return to this page use the "back" button on your browser.

GCs on Display

The Victoria & George Cross Gallery at London's Imperial War Museum contains a good cross-section of George Cross awards. Apart from the medals, they also contain an account of the deed and other items of interest. The following table lists those George Cross' currently located in the gallery.

EGM-GC Exchanges

To view a list of EGM holders who exchanged the EGM for the George Cross, click here and the list will appear in your browser window. To return to this page use the "back" button on your browser.

EM-GC Exchanges

To view a list of EM holders who exchanged the EM for the George Cross, click here and the list will appear in your browser window. To return to this page use the "back" button on your browser.

AM-GC Exchanges

To view a list of AM holders who exchanged the AM for the George Cross, click here and the list will appear in your browser window. To return to this page use the "back" button on your browser.