My father's George Cross

My father, Brandon Moss, was a Special Constable in Coventry in the War, and he was on duty the night of the Blitz.

He got the George Cross for his work that night and the King gave it to him at Buckingham Palace. The local paper (Coventry Evening Telegraph) said he got the medal for his "Superhuman efforts and utter disregard for personal injury", leading two rescue attempts on houses which had been destroyed by bombs. Even though he was in danger of being buried alive himself, he carried on digging all night, close to a fractured gas main and an unexploded bomb in a pub doorway. He found three people trapped in the rubble of one house and another person in a second house. Four bodies were also recovered.

His medal is now in Lord Ashcroft's collection at the Imperial War Museum.