Sergeant Graham Leslie Parish GC (29 August 1912 – 16 September 1942) of the

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF ...

was posthumously awarded the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...

for 'gallantry of the highest order' during the crash landing of his plane in 1942.Commonwealth War Graves Commission
/ref>

Biography

Prior to enlisting with the

in August 1940, Parish, originally from Sheffield, had been employed as the Borough Librarian for Lytham St Annes at the

St Annes-on-the-Sea Carnegie Library The Carnegie Library is in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England. The foundation stone of St. Anne's Library was laid in August 1904 and the building was officially opened on 10 January 1906. The land was given by the St. Anne's on the Sea Land ...

16 September 1942

Parish was the observer on an aircraft operating a delivery flight to the

Middle East Command Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...

which crashed after attempting to return to base in

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

due to the failure of the port engine on 16 September 1942. Most of the crew managed to get clear as the bomber burst into flames but one man had suffered two broken legs and was trapped. The bomber was engulfed and neither Parish or the passenger survived but when their charred bodies were recovered it was clear that Parish had carried him eight yards from the blocked emergency door to the rear turret in the hope of rescuing him, rather than save himself by climbing out through the astro hatch.

George Cross citation

Notice of his award appeared in ''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...

'' of 2 April 1943.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parish, Graham Leslie British recipients of the George Cross Royal Air Force recipients of the George Cross Royal Air Force airmen 1942 deaths Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Sudan 1912 births Military personnel from Sheffield Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II