Robert Davies (British Army officer)
Robert John Davies, GC (3 October 1900 – 27 September 1975) was a Royal Engineers officer who was awarded the George Cross (GC) for the heroism he displayed in defusing a bomb which threatened to destroy St Paul's Cathedral on 12 September 1940. Early life Davies was born in Newlyn, Cornwall, the son of John Sampson Davies of St Erth and Annie Vingoe. Davies had emigrated to Canada and joined the Canadian Army in 1918. He returned to Cornwall in the 1930s, and on 6 March 1940 was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, serving as a bomb disposal officer during the Blitz. George Cross On the night 8/9 September 1940, a Luftwaffe air raid on the city of London resulted in an unexploded bomb landing very close to St Paul's Cathedral. The bomb was lodged 27 feet deep in Deans Yard (close to the west end of the cathedral) and took three days to dig out. It was placed on two lorries (joined in tandem) and Davies drove it through deserted streets to Hackney Marshes where it was safely destroyed. Citation The citation from a supplement to the London Gazette of 27 September 1940 (dated 30