Here are some images about 14 year old Charity Bick who lied about her age to join the ARP (minimum age 16) in Birmingham. She was the youngest recipient of the George Medal. The London Gazette of 14 February 1941reported: During a very heavy air raid, Miss Bick played an heroic part under nerve-racking conditions. At the outset when incendiary bombs began to fall she assisted her father, a Post Warden, to put out one of these, in the roof of a shop, with the said of a stirrup pump and bucket of water. The pump proved to be out of order, but nothing daunted she proceeded to splash the water with her hands and eventually put out the fire. While endeavouring to get out of the roof the charred rafters gave way and she fell through to the room below and sustained minor injuries. Miss Bick and her father then returned to the A.R.P. Post. Almost immediately high explosive bombs began to fall and a terrific explosion nearly shook them off their feet. They discovered that a bomb had destroyed two houses opposite and another one nearby. The Wardens attached to the Post were all on duty, so she borrowed a bicycle and rushed out to take a message to the Control Room amidst shrapnel from guns and falling bombs. She made repeated attempts to get through and several times had to dismount and fall flat on the ground for safety. Covered with dirt and grime she eventually delivered the message. She made three journeys from her Post to the Control Room, a distance of approximately one and a quarter miles, during the height of the raid, and made further journeys afterwards. Miss Bick, by acting as a means of communication between the Wardens Post to which she was attached and the Control Room, did very valuable work and released other Wardens for duty. She displayed outstanding courage and coolness in very trying circumstances. Even Wikipedia stil has the wrong facts where they say she was born in 1924 or 1925. Birth records show her birth was registered in the first quarter of 1926. She was still only 15 when she received her George Medal from King George VI in September 1941. Charity subsequently served in the WRAF until she retired in 1962.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 23:36:52 +0000
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