Lieutenant-Colonel John Gaff (27 May 1927 – 28 November 2013) was a British Army officer who was the senior bomb disposal expert during his service in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in the mid 1970s. He was awarded the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in circ ...

for his personal courage during bomb disposal operations. He was president of the Gallantry Medallists League from 2002 to 2008. John Maurice Gaff was born at

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

and educated at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford. He joined the British Army in 1944 and was commissioned into the

Queen's Royal Regiment The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Ar ...

in 1946 and served with the regiment in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. He married Christine Brown in 1950 with whom he had one daughter and two sons. Lieutenant Colonel John Gaff GM died on 28 November 2013.

Career

Gaff transferred to the Parachute Regiment and joined the

9th Parachute Battalion The 9th (Eastern and Home Counties) Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. The battalion was created in late 1942 by the conversion of the 10th Ba ...

and became the battalion's weapons training officer. He left Palestine in 1948. He was posted to

Netheravon Netheravon is a village and civil parish on the River Avon and A345 road, about north of the town of Amesbury in Wiltshire, South West England. It is within Salisbury Plain. The village is on the right (west) bank of the Avon, opposite Fit ...

where he assisted with parachute trials with new aircraft, and was then posted to

RAF Cardington The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

where he was a parachute training officer. He later received a regular commission in the RAOC and qualified as an Inspecting Ordnance Officer. He served at a base ammunition depot at

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

during the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...

. He was posted to the Central Ordnance Depot, Donnington, as Guided Weapons Liaison Officer, in 1957. Gaff was promoted to Major in May 1961. He served in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

and BAOR. Gaff was posted to Northern Ireland in 1974 as Chief Ammunition Technical Officer and was the Explosives Ordnance Disposal adviser to the GOC Northern Ireland. He had overall command of all bomb disposal units in Northern Ireland. On 21 March 1974 he led the operation to defuse bombs at a railway signal box and on the railway track at Dunloy Halt, near Ballymoney,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, which involved nearly 15 hours of very hazardous work. His citation for the award of the George Medal included the following: " for the outstanding personal courage and devotion to duty which he demonstrated throughout his tour of Northern Ireland in an extremely hazardous and highly technical field of operations. " The

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

documentary ''The Bomb Disposal Men'' was filmed in 1974 during his service in Northern Ireland.

Later life

Gaff retired from the Army in May 1975 and set up a consultancy business for bomb disposal, working in Africa, the Middle East and Far East until 1998 when he sold the business. He assisted the writer of espionage novels

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

on subjects within his expertise. He was president of the Gallantry Medallists League from 2002 to 2008.

References

* ''British Gallantry Awards 1855–2000'' Peter Duckers (2001). 1927 births 2013 deaths People educated at Royal Grammar School, Guildford Recipients of the George Medal Bomb disposal personnel Queen's Royal Regiment officers British Parachute Regiment officers British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency John le Carré Royal Army Ordnance Corps officers British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency British military personnel of The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Military personnel from Guildford {{British-Army-bio-stub