George Cross Heroes

In September 1940, King George VI announced the institution of the George Cross, a civilian equivalent of the Victoria Cross, awarded to recognize acts of supreme gallantry performed outside the battlefield.

From Thomas Alderson, the first recipient, who rescued people from trapped houses during a Blitz night, to Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher, who threw himself onto a live grenade in Helmand province to save his comrades (and survived), to air stewardess Barbara Harrison, who died i…