George Thomson, VC: George Thomson was born 23 October 1920 at Borestone Cottage, Trinity Gask, about 12 miles west of Perth. At the age of 15, after schooling at Portmoak Public School and Kinross Higher Grades School, Thomson began an apprenticeship with a Kinross grocer.
During the Second World War, Thomson volunteered with the Local Defence Volunteers (later known as the Home Guard) and applied to join the RAF but was given ‘deferred service’. A second application in late 1940 resulted in an appearance at an ‘aircrew selection board’. This too ended unsuccessfully. Undeterred, Thomson enlisted as RAF ground crew and went on to serve in Iraq for a year and a half. A third application for flying duties in mid-August 1943 resulted in Thomson being accepted for training as an air wireless operator (bomber crew) at No. 14 OTU RAF at Market Harborough (22 May 1944). Upon completion of training, Thomson joined No. 9 Squadron RAF at Bardney (Lincolnshire) on 29 September 1944. Thomson’s first operational mission was a bombing run in an Avro Lancaster, 4-engine heavy bomber over Bremen on 6 October 1944. The following month (30 November 1944), he was promoted to the rank of flight sergeant.
On 31 December 1944, Thomson took part in a mission that saw him posthumously receive a VC. He was the wireless operator for Lancaster PD377 (call sign ‘U’ for ‘Uncle’), one of 10 Lancaster bombers taking part in a dawn bombing raid on the Dortmund-Ems Canal, Germany. While over the target, having released its payload, PD377 was hit twice and an intense fire took hold. Despite the personal danger, Thomson made his way through the smoke-filled plane to help the mid-upper gunner, Ernie Potts, whose turret was on fire. He dragged the gunner to a safer position and bare handed extinguished the gunner’s burning clothing receiving as a consequence severe burns to his face, hands, and legs. Without further consideration of himself, Thomson repeated this act of bravery in rescuing the rear gunner, Haydn Price. After this, he made his way to the cockpit where the pilot, Flying Officer Ron Goebel, and the Lancaster’s engineer Wilf Hartshorn had made the decision to land the plane – the option to bail out was not available due to parachute damage.
The damaged plane was manoeuvred so as to come down over a liberated part of the Netherlands where a successful landing was made near to the village of Heesch. Luckily, the fighter escort for the bombing run spotted the crash site and informed RAF Bomber Command, which arranged for medical services (an ambulance and 2 doctors) to be on hand at the village. The survivors were taken to Eindhoven Catholic Hospital. Of the 2 gunners rescued by Thomson, Potts died after 18 hours and Price needed plastic surgery but recovered. Sadly, Thomson who had begun to recover from his wounds succumbed to pneumonia. He died at No. 50 Military Field Hospital on 23 January 1945 and is buried in the Brussels Town Cemetery, Evere.
George Thompson was posthumously awarded the VC on 20 February 1945. The medal alongside Thomson’s other medals is housed in the National War Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle. A replica of Thompson’s medal is on display in the Jackson Block at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell. In addition, his name features on the Portmoak war memorial.