John Rennie

Who was John Rennie?

Acting Sergeant John Rennie, GC was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the gallantry he displayed in protecting others after a training accident at Riddlesworth near Slough on the 29 October 1943.

Serving with the The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, he was overseeing a grenade throwing drill when a live grenade rolled back into the trench his men were in. He pushed another man out of the way, picked up the grenade and attempted to throw it to safety as it exploded. He was mortally wounded but, by his sacrifice, had protected his comrades from the explosion. "Jock" Rennie was born in Aberdeen in Scotland in 1920 and had emigrated with his family to Kitchener, Ontario as a child.