Book description
This ebook edition contains the full text version as per the book.
Doesn't include original photographic and illustrated material. In a
broadcast to the nation in September 1940 King George VI announced the
institution of the George Cross - a civilian equivalent of the Victoria
Cross awarded to recognize the many acts of supreme gallantry being
performed outside of the battlefield. From Thomas Alderson, the first
recipient of the medal, who heroically rescued several people from
trapped houses during one terrible Blitz night, to Lance Corporal
Matthew Croucher, who threw himself onto a live grenade in the Helmand
province to save the lives of his comrades (and somehow survived), to
Barbara Harrison, an air stewardess who died in 1968 after helping many
passengers escape from an onboard fire, this book tells the amazing
stories of everyone of the George Cross's 159 direct recipients. GEORGE
CROSS HEROES pays tribute to the extraordinary courage displayed by so
many of the commonwealth's men and women in so many incredible
situations over the last 70 years. Lord Ashcroft, KCMG, is an
international businessman, author and philanthropist. He has a life-long
interest in bravery and gallantry medals. His collection of Victoria
Crosses - the largest in the world - and George Crosses can be seen in
the Lord Ashcroft Gallery, alongside other similar decorations owned by,
or in the care of, the Imperial War Museum in London. He is also a
Trustee of the Imperial War Museum Foundation Ltd, Vice Patron of the
Intelligence Corps Museum and a principal benefactor to the Bomber
Command Memorial, donating £1 million to the cause. Heroes of the Skies
is Lord Ashcroft's eighth book, and the fourth in his widely acclaimed
'heroes' series, which tell the stories of acts of bravery that have
inspired him. The author's royalties from each of his books on gallantry
have been donated to military charities.
