Saving Gallery

WW2 greetings card, Corporal Joan Pearson

WW2 greetings card, Corporal J.D.M. Pearson, official war picture by Laura Knight, official war picture from the National Gallery. The message inside reads: When an aircraft crashed near her quarters at a Royal Air Force Station, Corporal Pearson rushed out and, although the aircraft was burning and she knew that there were bombs aboard, she stood on the wreckage, roused the severely injured pilot, who was stunned, and assisted him to get clear, releasing his parachute harness in doing so. When he was on the ground, a 120 pound bomb went off about 30 yards away. Corporal Pearson at once threw herself on the top of the pilot to protect him from the blast and splinters. Her prompt and courageous action undoubtedly helped to save the pilots life. Joan Daphne Mary Pearson (1911-2000) was awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal (EGM), later to become the George Cross, for her heroism. Date: circa 1942

© The March of the Women Collection/Mary Evans Picture Library

Douglas Dakota picking up a glider, Normandy; Second World W

Illustration showing a Douglas Dakota, C-47 Skytrain, swooping down with a hook trailing to pick up a Waco glider, Normandy, France, 1944. This system of launching and towing a glider was designed as a time-saving measure, so that tug aircraft, such as the Dakota, could pick up gliders without landing. This illustration was made by the Illustrated London News special artist, C.E. Turner using information supplied by the US Ninth Air Force

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Gallipoli - bringing in horses by Matania, WW1

Telegraph work in Gallipoli - an unrecorded incident of individual bravery. Two men of the 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers bringing two uninjured horses back to British lines during a severe Turkish bombardment. According to an eye-witness account by an officer, This incident deserves to be recorded. We were in trenches just on this side of the foreground; a four-horsed wagon containing poles for telegraphic purposes was coming over the hill, and just as it got to the crest a shell dropped near the waggon, badly damaging it and killing two of the horses. There were, however, still two horses left, and as the shaft pole was now sticking up at an angle the Turks evidently took it to be a gun and began dropping shells at a rate of four a minute. The horses seemed to possess a charmed life. Shell after shell dropped. It seemed impossible that they could live. Then through my glasses I could see two men trying to cut the animals loose. When they heard a shell coming I saw one man take cover behind a tree, and the other get behind the wagon. A few minutes later they galloped the horses bareback past our trenches amid cheers from their friends. They were two men of the 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers. They both received their promotion that evening. Date: 1916

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans