Warrant Officer Class 1 Warrant may refer to: * Warrant (law), a form of specific authorization ** Arrest warrant, authorizing the arrest and detention of an individual ** Search warrant, a court order issued that authorizes law enforcement to conduct a search for eviden ...

Kim Spencer Hughes, GC (born 12 September 1979) is a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

bomb disposal expert (

Ammunition Technician An ammunition technician (AT) is a British Army soldier, formerly of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps but since 1993 of the Royal Logistic Corps, trained to inspect, repair, test, store, and modify all ammunition, guided missiles, and explosives used ...

) who was 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 ...

as a

staff sergeant Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administrative, supervi ...

for gallant acts carried out in the

Afghanistan conflict War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see al ...

. Hughes made safe 119

improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...

s on his tour of Afghanistan. The citation was presented to Hughes by the Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir

Jock Stirrup Marshal of the Royal Air Force Graham Eric Stirrup, Baron Stirrup, (born 4 December 1949), informally known as Jock Stirrup, is a former senior Royal Air Force commander who was the Chief of the Defence Staff from 2006 until his retirement in ...

on 18 March 2010 in a ceremony in the City of London. The posthumous award of the GC to Staff Sergeant

Olaf Schmid Staff Sergeant Olaf Sean George Schmid, GC (11 June 1979 – 31 October 2009) was a British Army bomb disposal expert (Ammunition Technician) who was killed in action in the Afghanistan conflict. Schmid was posthumously awarded the George Cros ...

was announced at the same time. The awarded was

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

on 19 March 2010. His citation states that he carried out "the single most outstanding act of explosive ordnance disposal ever recorded in Afghanistan".

Early life

Hughes was born in Germany, where his father was serving in the

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...

, and returned to England in 1985. He lived in

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon ...

until 1988 when he moved to

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an est ...

. There he was educated at

Thomas Telford School Thomas Telford School (commonly referred to as TTS) is a City Technology College in Telford, Shropshire and is sponsored by The Mercers Company and Tarmac Holdings Limited. Prior to 2016 the mixed ability school ranked as the top performing com ...

Later life

Hughes left the army in October 2020. He has since published an autobiographical account of his experiences in Afghanistan, ''Painting the Sand'', plus a thriller novel, ''Operation Certain Death''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Kim 1979 births Living people People from Telford People from Weston-super-Mare People educated at Thomas Telford School Royal Logistic Corps soldiers Bomb disposal personnel British Army personnel of the Iraq War British Army personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) British recipients of the George Cross