Alexander Fraser Campbell

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Second Lieutenant Alexander Fraser Campbell of the 9th Bomb Disposal Company was posthumously awarded the George Cross for conspicuous gallantry in defusing a bomb which had fallen on the Triumph Engineering Works in Coventry on the 17th of October 1940.

He found the bomb was fitted with an irremovable delayed action fuse and the decision was made to move it to a safe area. Campbell lay down beside the bomb in the truck to listen for the start of the timer mechanism to give the driver of the lorry a chance of escape. He later made the bomb safe himself. He was awarded the George Cross for this action but received it posthumously as he was killed the following day, with seven other members of his team, when a bomb he had removed from the city centre exploded.

His George Cross is on display in the Royal Engineers Museum [1].