| William Marsden Eastman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 October 1911 Brentford, England |
| Died | 1980 (aged 68-69) Malta |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | British Army |
| Years of service | Retired 1966 |
| Rank | Brigadier |
| Unit | Royal Army Ordnance Corps |
| Commands held | RAOC Training Centre |
| Battles/wars | World War II bomb disposal |
| Awards | George Cross |
Brigadier William Marsden Eastman GC (1911–1980), known as Bill Eastman,[1] was a British Army officer who was awarded the George Cross for his gallant bomb disposal work from June to November 1940 on Malta.
Notice of his award appeared in the "London Gazette" on Christmas Eve, 1940.[2]
"Colonel RL Jephson-Jones, RAOC and Major WM Eastman, RAOC, are awarded the George Cross for a joint achievement (bomb disposal) in Malta during the enemy's concentrated air attacks on the fortress in June to November 1940. On various dates, Captain Jephson-Jones and Lieutenant Eastman, worked under dangerous and trying conditions and performed acts of considerable gallantry in dealing with a large number of variously unexploded bombs, some of which were in a very highly dangerous state and of the German delayed action type."
After the war he commanded the RAOC Training Centre until his retirement in 1966, when he retired with his wife to Malta, where he died, and is buried in the Ta' Braxia Cemetery in Pietà.[3]
An article was published in "The Sunday Times of Malta" [4] in 2008 reporting the sale of the George Cross medal to the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment Museum. A subsequent web posting recorded anecdotes of Eastman's wartime sojourns in Malta, including a tale describing "the occasion he journeyed to a UXB site on a motorbike, with his girlfriend [and future wife], Yvonne Vassallo along for the ride - she unhesitatingly accepted his invitation to sit on the UXB and steady it as he went about his perilous work!".[5]