Norman Cyril Jackson - Victoria Cross
Though American history is not lacking in heroic figures worthy of writing about, I feel from time to time that the acts of servicemen from allied nations is also worth highlighting. Today's is one such article. Norman Cyril Jackson was adopted into the Gunter family when he was very young. The family adopted another young boy, Geoffrey Oliver Hartley, who as a police lieutenant in 1951 was awarded the George Medal (the second highest British award for bravery not in the face of an enemy). Jackson joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in 1939 as WWII started. He was married and in a protected occupation (fitter and turner - what we Yanks would call a machinist), so he didn't have to enlist, but he did. His RAF duties saw him using his civilian acquired skills as an engine fitter. Assigned to a flying boat squadron in Sierra Leone, he applied for and was granted retraining as a flight engineer. July 1943 saw Jackson assigned to the No. 106 Squadron flying Avro Lanca...