- SURNAME
White
- FORENAME
John McKelvie
- UNIT
22 SAS
- RANK
Sergeant
- NUMBER
23527394
- AWARD
Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct
- PLACE
Dhofar, Oman 1976
- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
parent unit Parachute Regiment
recommended for George Medal, awarded QCBC
London Gazette 47031, 4th October 1976, Page 13449
CITATION:
Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct : Sergeant White is a soldier of the British Army Training Team serving in Oman with the Sultan's Armed Forces.
On 8 April 1976 he was giving instruction in the use of the No. 36 Hand Grenades to a training cadre of soldiers from the Dhofar Guard Unit, at an improvised range in the desert near Thumrait. The training had progressed to the point where the trainee soldiers were to throw their first 'live' grenades, from the safety of a protective sangar.
One soldier after removing the safety pin from his grenade, failed to throw the grenade properly, fumbled and dropped the now live grenade on the ground inside the sangar. Sergeant White, seeing that the soldier was too shocked to help himself, immediately reacted by lifting and pushing the soldier up over the sides and out of the sangar to safety. The Sergeant then himself leapt from the sangar, throwing himself upon the soldier to protect the man. In the process, the grenade, exploded and Sergeant White received shrapnel wounds. The trainee soldier was uninjured.
Sergeant White knew full well from experience that he had less than 4 seconds to act before the grenade would explode with concentrated and disastrous effect inside the sangar. Nevertheless his first thought was not for his own safety but for that of the inexperienced man, shocked to inaction beside him. His chosen course of action, with his own body interposed as a shield between the grenade and the soldier, at a time when serious injury or possibly death was almost certain, greatly increased the risk to him self.
In acting as he did, Sergeant White displayed selfless bravery in the highest traditions of military service.
Place : Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman
Date of Action : 8th April 1976
How Employed : British Army Training Team Attached To SAF
On 8 April 1976 he was giving instruction in the use of the No. 36 Hand Grenades to a training cadre of soldiers from the Dhofar Guard Unit, at an improvised range in the desert near Thumrait. The training had progressed to the point where the trainee soldiers were to throw their first 'live' grenades, from the safety of a protective sangar.
One soldier after removing the safety pin from his grenade, failed to throw the grenade properly, fumbled and dropped the now live grenade on the ground inside the sangar. Sergeant White, seeing that the soldier was too shocked to help himself, immediately reacted by lifting and pushing the soldier up over the sides and out of the sangar to safety. The Sergeant then himself leapt from the sangar, throwing himself upon the soldier to protect the man. In the process, the grenade, exploded and Sergeant White received shrapnel wounds. The trainee soldier was uninjured.
Sergeant White knew full well from experience that he had less than 4 seconds to act before the grenade would explode with concentrated and disastrous effect inside the sangar. Nevertheless his first thought was not for his own safety but for that of the inexperienced man, shocked to inaction beside him. His chosen course of action, with his own body interposed as a shield between the grenade and the soldier, at a time when serious injury or possibly death was almost certain, greatly increased the risk to him self.
In acting as he did, Sergeant White displayed selfless bravery in the highest traditions of military service.
Place : Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman
Date of Action : 8th April 1976
How Employed : British Army Training Team Attached To SAF
WEB LINKS:
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/47031/supplement/13449https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7631438
