page_title: Daphne Pearson
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Daphne Pearson / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: A three- quarters length portrait of Corporal Daphne Pearson, shown on duty, in uniform, looking skywards and holding a respirator.
context_page_description: Joan Daphne Mary Pearson, GC was a Women's Auxiliary Air Force officer during the Second World War and one of only thirteen women recipients of the George Cross, the highest medal for gallantry not in the face of an enemy that can be awarded to a citizen of the United Kingdom.
context_section_description: Pearson joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) as a medical orderly shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.
  In the early hours of the morning on 31 May 1940, Avro Anson bomber R3389 of No. 500 Squadron RAF undershot on approach to an airstrip near the WAAF quarters in Detling, Kent, crashing into a field. Upon landing, a bomb exploded, killing the navigator instantly, and leaving the pilot seriously injured. Corporal Pearson entered the burning fuselage, released the pilot from his harness and removed him from the immediate area around the aircraft. After she was 27 metres (30 yards) from the aircraft, a bomb exploded. She flung herself on top of the pilot to protect him. After medical staff had removed the pilot, she went back to the plane to look for the fourth crew member, the radio operator. She found him dead.For her deeds, Pearson was awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal (EGM). The full citation for the award was published in the London Gazette on 19 July 1940 and reads:
  CENTRAL CHANCERY OF THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD - St. James's Palace, S.W.1. 19th July 1940.
  The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the following Awards:
  The Medal of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for Gallantry:—
  880538 Corporal (now Assistant Section Officer) Joan Daphne Mary Pearson, Women's Auxiliary Air Force
  
  On 31 May 1940, an hour after midnight, an aircraft crashed near the Women's Auxiliary Air Force quarters at Detling in Kent, the pilot being seriously injured, another officer killed outright and two airmen slightly injured. Upon hearing the crash Corporal Pearson rushed out and, although she knew there were bombs on board, she stood on the wreckage, roused the pilot who was stunned, released his parachute harness and helped him to get clear. When she got him about 30 yards from the wreckage, a 120 lb bomb went off and Corporal Pearson threw herself on top of the pilot to protect him from the blast and splinters. She remained with him until a stretcher party arrived and then returned to the burning aircraft to look for the fourth member of the crew. She found him - the wireless operator - dead in the bomber. Her prompt and courageous action undoubtedly helped to save the pilot's life.
  After the revocation of the EGM, King George VI invested Pearson on 31 January 1941 with its replacement, the George Cross. She was the first woman to receive the new award. A portrait of Pearson at the time of the incident was commissioned and painted by the artist Laura Knight.
  Several weeks after the incident, Pearson was commissioned as an officer in the WAAF and served in RAF Bomber Command until the end of the war, working mainly as a recruiter.
caption: "Corporal J.D.M Pearson, GC, WAAF" by Laura Knight (1940)
exif: {}