HEROES AND HEROINES TRIBUTE THREAD

[olgitgooner]

Following on from a mention in the "good guys" thread.....this wonderful lady deserves a thread of her own http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituar ... ndler.html

But there are thousands of other people who have done amazingly brave things. They deserve to be remembered. Add your thoughts here.

[olgitgooner]

Douglas Bader....world war two pilot with no legs...

http://acepilots.com/british/bader.html

[olgitgooner]

Grace Darling......rescued people from a shipwreck many years ago....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Darling

[StuartL]

Douglas Bader....world war two pilot with no legs...

http://acepilots.com/british/bader.html

Sat the thread title and he immediately sprang to mind, was in awe of the bloke when I was younger (still am I guess)
The germans had to take his atificial legs away to stop him escaping.

Absolute hero - puts a lot of people to shame, who moan about nothing and expect things to be provided for them on a plate.

[QuartzGooner]

Lots of Victoria Crosses, this one from Wkipedia is notable for helping the wounded.



Parkash Singh

In January 1943, his battalion was engaged in fighting on the Mayu Peninsula in the Arakan, Burma, against Japanese forces, when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:

On 6 January 1943, the Bren Gun Carrier Platoon of 5/8th Punjab was attacked by a strong Japanese patrol near Donbaik on the Mayu Peninsula. The Platoon Commander was wounded and was forced to retire, handing over the command to Havildar Parkash Singh. Parkash Singh noticed two other carriers bogged down in a nullah, and under heavy Japanese fire. He immediately rushed to the rescue of the stricken carriers; calling on their crews to abandon the vehicles and run for safety while he provided covering fire.

When his Bren gunner was wounded, he took control of the gun from him, and charged towards the enemy. Driving with one hand and firing the Bren gun with the other, he drove them out of their fixed positions. As he returned to pick the crews of the stranded carriers, he came under heavy enemy fire, but calmly rescued all eight men.

On 19 January, the battalion carriers again came under heavy anti-tank fire in the same area, and several of them were destroyed including that of the Platoon Commander. The crews of the destroyed vehicles were given up for dead, and the rest of the carriers withdrew. But Parkash Singh wanted to see for himself if there were any survivors among the burning wrecks.

Driving down the beach under intense enemy fire, he found the officer and his driver in their badly damaged carrier. The men were too badly injured to be moved, so Parkash Singh decided to tow their vehicle to safety. Despite the order of his Platoon Commander to go back and save himself, the fearless NCO rigged a makeshift tow chain and secured it to the damaged carrier, all the time exposed to enemy fire, and then towed it back to safety. For his feats of cool courage and selfless devotion on 6 and 19 January 1943, Havildar Parkash Singh was awarded the Victoria Cross.

[MutleyGooner]

Magpie Thatcher - managed to piss off loads of northerners

[storrmin571]

Sir Tasker Watkins VC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasker_Wat ... rld_War_II

Watkins was commissioned into the Welsh Regiment in 1941. A lieutenant in the 1/5th battalion, he was one officer in a group in Normandy post D-Day leading an assault on a Wehrmacht machine gun post. After all the other officers were killed in the approach, Watkins continued to lead the group and won his VC for leading a bayonet charge against 50 armed enemy infantry and then single-handedly took out a machine-gun post to ensure the safety of his unit.[3]

He was the first Welshman to be awarded a VC during the Second World War. His citation reads:

On 16 August 1944 at Barfour, Normandy, France, Lieutenant Watkins' company came under murderous machine-gun fire while advancing through corn fields set with booby traps. The only officer left, Lieutenant Watkins led a bayonet charge with his 30 remaining men against 50 enemy infantry, practically wiping them out. Finally, at dusk, separated from the rest of the battalion, he ordered his men to scatter and after he had personally charged and silenced an enemy machine-gun post, he brought them back to safety. His superb leadership not only saved his men, but decisively influenced the course of the battle.

[Goose]

Loads on the following video but major Cain deserves a special mention.

52-56 mins in. Amazing story told by clarkson http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wiRUkFCQ6iQ

[RioGooner]

top docummentary, cheers!