File:George Cross recipient Lance-Corporal David Russell (15138117220).jpg

The George Cross (GC) is an award second only to the Victoria Cross in the United Kingdom honours system. The GC is the highest gallantry award for civilians, as well as for members of the armed forces in actions for which purely military honours would not normally be granted. The GC was instituted by King George VI on 24 September 1940, and superseded the Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Gallantry. Those who held such a medal were instructed to return it, and were given a GC in its place.

In the 25 years to 1965, 246 GCs were issued in total. Only one went to a New Zealander, Lance-Corporal David Russell, of the 22nd Battalion, Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Since 1965, two more George Cross medals have been awarded to New Zealanders; one posthumously to Murray Ken Hudson in 1974, the other to Stewart Graeme Guthrie in 1990.

Russell was taken prisoner in the Western Desert in July 1942, where he then escaped to work with the partisans behind enemy lines, assisting other prisoners-of-war to make their escapes. The story of his recapture, superb loyalty, gallantry, and ultimate death at the hands of his German captors was pieced together only after almost three years of investigations, and, on receipt of the full report, Russell was recommended for the George Cross. The final sentence of the citation reads: “There can be no doubt whatsoever that Lance-Corporal Russell, in the midst of his enemies and in face of death, bore himself with courage and dignity of a very high order”.

This page is from Lance-Corporal David Russell's Military Personnel File, which is available in its entirety on Archway