Great Britain: Medal for hero minefield medic (George Medal)

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | December 15, 2006 | TOM NEWTON DUNN

[Stoat]

 
Award ... medic Paul Hartley received gong, and inset, kids James and Ewan

Medal for hero minefield medic

 
By TOM NEWTON DUNN
Defence Editor
December 16, 2006
 
 

 

 

 
A SOLDIER given the George Medal for heroism in a Taliban minefield last night revealed he REFUSED to die as his son’s first birthday was next day.

 

Army medic Paul Hartley, 27, sprinted into the danger zone and spent six-and-a-half hours treating six casualties who had stumbled in by mistake.

One agonised squaddie had already lost a leg in the field at Kajaki, southern Afghanistan. Within an hour, five more mines exploded wounding five others.

Lance Corporal Paul, of Colchester, insisted he was stunned to get the medal — awarded for extreme bravery.

He said: “The minefield was terrible, but I just wanted to help.

“As the mines went off I told myself, ‘I’m not going to die — it’s my son Ewan’s birthday tomorrow’.

“I was determined to survive as I wanted to see my kids again.”

Paul, also dad to James, two, lives with partner Dawn and has been in the Royal Army Medical Corps nine years. He said: “I’m surprised I was singled out as ten others did their bit too.”

A ROYAL Marine who became the most junior serviceman to win the Military Cross yesterday sold it at auction for £30,000. Liam Armstrong, 27, needed cash to buy a home with his partner and child in Carlisle.

[Stoat]

Criteria for Awards

Medals for Gallantry or Distinguished Service

All may be awarded posthumously. George Medal (GM). Instituted by King George the Sixth in 1940 to recognise civilian bravery. It is now available to recognise conspicuous gallantry not in operations against the enemy. Between 1993 and 2002 15 awards were made mainly to Servicemen for bomb and explosive ordnance device disposals. It is a silver medal suspended from a red ribbon bearing five vertical blue stripes.

George Medal

The George Medal was instituted, together with the George Cross, on 24 September 1940. At that time there was a particular need to reward a great many people in all walks of life. However, it was the intention of the authorities that the George Cross should stand supreme and that its position as the 'civilian Victoria Cross' should not be undermined by the award of larger numbers. The result was that the George Medal, or GM, was introduced as a 'junior' to the George Cross.

The George Medal

The George Medal is the 2nd highest, to the George Cross,  gallantry medal that a civilian can win. As with the George Cross, Military personnel are eligible for the George Medal if their act does not qualify for a military gallantry award.

The original warrant for the George Medal did not permit it to be awarded posthumously. This was changed in November 1977, and the George Medal can and has been awarded posthumously several times since this date.

The following tables lists some of the first instances involving the award of the George Medal. The dates shown are those when the incident took place. The gazetting of the George Medal would have been sometime later, and after the George Medal was introduced on 24 September 1940.

Type of First Incident	Details
First Civilian Incident	RNLI Coxswain R. Cross on 22 February 1940
First Military Incident	Captain G.O. Brooks on 28 March 1940
First incident in UK mainland	Captain S.W. Warrick on 19 March 1940
First air raid incident	Mr. R.J. Lewis & Mr. F. Mallia on 11-16 June 1940 (in Malta)
First air raid incident in UK	Mr. G.W. Howe, Mr. W. Sigsworth, Mr. G.S. Sewell, Mr. J. Owen & Mr. C. Turner on 1 July 1940
First action by a women	Mrs. D. Clarke & Mrs. B.J. Hepburn on 8 July 1940
First Honorary Award	Pilot Officer J.H.F. Hansen (Danish citizen) RAFVR on 18 December 1940
First Merchant Navy Incident	Mr. E.L. Barnes on 23 August to 5 September 1940
First Bar to Civilian GM	Mr. G.S. Sewell on 8-9 May 1941
First Bar to Military GM	Sub-Lieutenant J. Bridge on 17 May 1941

The George Medal is a circular silver medal. The obverse depicts the effigy of the sovereign and the reverse show St. George slaying the dragon on the coast of England. The ribbon is red with five narrow stripes, the blue stripe colour being 'borrowed' from the George Cross ribbon.

A complete list of George Medal holders 1940-1983 can be found in the book "Dragons Can be Defeated" by D.V. Henderson.

Recent George Medal Awards

There have been several recent awards of the George Medal. As can be seen by the table below, the vast majority have been posthumous awards.

The list is in the order of the "Incident Date" which is not necessarily the order that the George Medal award was published in the London Gazette. Except in the case of Lisa Potts (who survived the attack on her despite her injuries), the George Medal was presented to the recipient's next-of-kin.

Name	Occupation	Brief Summary of Incident	Date of Incident	Remarks
Lisa Potts	School Teacher	Protected her class children from machete attack	June 1997	Survived
Eliza Ward	restaurant employee	Saving life of her stabbed restaurant manager	July 1997	Posthumous
William Deacon	Winchman	Rescued ship's crew during storm	November 1997	Posthumous
Tony Doherty	Rescue craft worker	Attempted rescue of man who fell into North Sea	February 1998	Posthumous
Andrew Pennington	Civilian	Saved the life of a man attacked with a samurai sword	January 2000	Posthumous

[Lexington Green]

Rick Rescorla. the Cornishman who saved 3,000 on 9-11, should be awarded this medal too.

[Timmy]

Partner? For both of them? Don't they have wives in the UK anymore?

[Axlrose]

All part of this once great nations descent into olbivion.

[Prodigal Son]

Rick Rescorla. the Cornishman who saved 3,000 on 9-11, should be awarded this medal too.

Rick Rescorla was a bad-ass. Fought in Vietnam. If all the history young people know of Vietnam is from the movies, well, Rick Rescorla fought in the battle that is depicted in Mel Gibson's 'We Were Soldiers Once... And Young'. He was a lieutenant then and young. Died on 9/11.