For Gallantry; The George Cross

168, [2] pages. Illustrations (incomplete and some not at the page location indicated--thus fair condition). Text complete. Includes Introduction. Chapters include A Royal Inspiration; One Tiny Bright Flame--Malta--G.C.; The First Civilian G.C.-- Thomas Hopper Alderson; The Lady of Hyderabad--Ashraf-un-Nisa Begum; In the Road of the Sea--Henry Blogg and William Fleming; A London Fireman Dies--Frederick Davies; Under Japanese Torture--John Alexander Fraser; Beneath A London Church--Albert Edward Heming; Birmingham Is Hit--William Radenhurst Mosedale; Nazi Fury--Coventry--And a Policeman--Brendon Moss; Rescue in Chelsea--Anthony Smith; Science and the Unexploded Bomb--The Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire; Armed Robbery in Bristol--Robert George Taylor; Fire at a London Hospital--Dorothy Louise Thomas; Bravery in Devonshire--Emma Josie Townsend; The Shunter of Birkenhead--Norman Tunna; and Women in Uniform--Daphne Pearson, Violette Szabo, Nora Inayat-Khan, and Odette Churchill. Stories associated with the George Cross prove conclusively that peace has heroes too, and it was indeed a happy Royal inspiration which instituted an award for civilians of Britain and the Commonwealth who met danger squarely and with courage. Among the heroes discussed are: Thomas Hopper Alderson, Ashraf-un-Nisa Begum, Henry Blogg, William Fleming, Frederick Davies, John Alexander Fraser, Albert Edward Heming, William Mosedale, Brandon Moss, Anthony Smith, Violette Szabo, Dorothy Louise Thomas, Emma Josie Townsend, and Norman Tunna. The George Cross (GC) is the second highest award of the United Kingdom honours system awarded "for acts of the greatest heroism or for most conspicuous courage in circumstance of extreme danger", not in the presence of the enemy, to members of the British armed forces and to British civilians. Posthumous awards have been allowed since it was instituted. It was previously awarded to residents of Commonwealth countries (and in one case to Malta, a colony which subsequently became a Commonwealth country), most of which have since established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any military rank in any service and to civilians including police, emergency services and merchant seamen. Many of the awards have been personally presented by the British monarch to recipients or, in the case of posthumous awards, to next of kin. These investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace.…