Jenkin Robert Oswald Thompson

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Captain Jenkin Robert Oswald Thompson was posthumously awarded the George Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He was born on July 13, 1911 and died on January 24th, 1944. He was awarded the decoration for the courage he showed while serving as a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps on board HM Hospital Carriers Paris and Dunkirk in Sicily and Anzio [1].

The hospital carrier on which he was serving on the night of 24th January 1944, the St. David, was struck in a dive bomber attack at Anzio and Thompson organised the safe passage of the wounded to the lifeboats, saving all but one of the patients in his ward. As the ship was about to sink he returned to the ward in an attempt to rescue the last patient who was trapped below decks and went down with the ship. His citation was published in the London Gazette on the 2nd of February 1945.