George Wyllie

Who was George Wyllie?

Sapper George Cameron Wyllie GC of the Royal Engineers was awarded the George Cross for the heroism he displayed on 12 September 1940 when a 2,000 kilograms bomb fell near St Paul's Cathedral in Deans Yard. It took three days to dig the bomb out of soft soil, work made even more dangerous by a fire at a fractured gas main. Wylie and his team placed the recovered bomb on a lorry, which was driven to Hackney Marshes, where the bomb was detonated, leaving a crater 100 feet wide.

The citation from a supplement to the London Gazette of 27 September 1940 reads:

St. James's Palace, S.W.1, 30th September, 1940.

The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the GEORGE CROSS to the undermentioned:—

[...]

No. 1942531 Sapper George Cameron Wylie, Royal Engineers.

Sapper Wylie was a member of the Bomb Disposal Section engaged upon the recovery of the bomb which fell in the neighbourhood of St. Paul's Cathedral.