Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 168

W ORLD W AR II

S T . E DWARD ’ S S CHOOL , O XFORD R OLL OF H ONOUR

Name GUY PENROSE GIBSON (Group Captain)

Lef SES 1936

Roll Number 2755 Died 14:09:1944

Set / House A

Arrive SES 1932

Where STEENBERGEN, HOLLAND Serving with 617 SQD, BOMBER CMD, R.A.F.

Age 26

Buried Steenbergen-en-Kruisland RC Cemetery, Holland Remembered

Several including: - A Memorial Plaque, West House, Penarth, Wales; several locations in Steenbergen, Holland; a plaque and Street in Porthleven Cornwall and The St. Edward’s School WW2 Memorial Born Simla, Himachal Pradesh, India in 1918, the younger of two SES brothers. He was to become one of the most celebrated servicemen of WW2, and the only OSE to be ever be awarded the Victoria Cross (VC). At the School he was a House Prefect, in the 2nd Rugby Football XV, a Lance-Corporal in the OTC and a member of the Lower Science VIth. He joined the RAF in 1936, was a Flight Officer by 1939 and after the outbreak of war was attached to 83 Squadron Bomber Command. Awarded the DFC in 1940. Acting Squadron Leader 29 Sqd 1941 and further awarded a Bar to his DFC in 1941. DSO 1942. Wing Commander 106 Sqd 1942. W/C 617 Sqd (Dambusters), VC 1943 following leadership of successful bombing of Ruhr Dams. American Legion of Merit 1943. Group Captain 1944. Reported missing 1944 over Holland. Confirmed killed, following action over Germany, in Steenbergen, Holland 14th September 1949. He was a married man. Buried in the local Catholic Cemetery In all Gibson completed 170 sorties, involving more than 600 operational flying hours. ‘We have lost in the officer one of the most splendid of our fighting men. His name will not be forgotten, it will be forever enshrined in the most honourable records of our country’ (Winston Churchill).