Description
General Service Medal, GVI, bar Bomb & Mine Clearance 1945-49, 3091981 Aircraftsman II Class Brian Arthur Reginald Graley, Royal Air Force. A very rare RAF Bomb Disposal Medal.
Officially engraved: “3091981 A.C. II B.A.R. Graley. R.A.F.”
One of the rarest clasps to the medal for an extremely dangerous job, each recipient put their life on the line.
Earning this clasp was no simple feat, the following details are from the book “British Battle & Medals” by John Hayward, Diana Birch and Richard Bishop, who explain the difficult task of earning the clasp:
“The qualification for this award was originally an aggregate of 180 days active engagement in the clearance of bombs and mines in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland from 9th May 1945 – 31st December 1949.
Any members of the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force employed on this work on land qualified under the same conditions as those for the Army.
The term ‘Active Engagement’ was taken to mean the process of digging down to a bomb or its removal and final disposal. In the case of mines, it meant the entering of the perimeter of live minefields, disarming the mines or acting as a water jet operator.
It should be noted that being a member of a unit so employed did not, in itself, count as a qualification. To be eligible, the recipient must have been personally engaged in one or all of the processes from the reaching to the final disposal of the bombs or mines.”
Brian or Bryan Arthur Reginald Graley was born on 5th October 1928 in Lowick, Northamptonshire.
The son of Reginald Christopher Graley and Edith Annie nee Dickens.
He married firstly Glady Mavis Una Chapman during October 1946 in Thrapston, Northants.
Then Sylvia M. Swingler during November 1984 in Ounde & Thrapston, Northants.
He died during June 1989 in Northampton, and was cremated.
The following obituary was placed in the local Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph on 20th June 1989:
“Graley – On June 18th, 1989. Peacefully in hospital, Brian Arthur Reginald Graley, aged 60 years, of 9 Highfield, Woodford, beloved husband of Sylvia, loving father and grandfather of all his children, step-children and grand-children. Sadly missed by all his family and friends. The funeral service will be held at the Albert Munn Chapel, Kettering Crematorium on Tuesday 27th at 2.30pm.”
As a young man, Brian would have been a little too young to serve actively in World War 2, war having ended right as he was turning 18.
His service number block would correspond with enlistment circa November 1945 onwards, lining up with him becoming of age for service.
An analysis of the RAF Numbers notes that the service numbers in this block were for Ex Members of the Air Training Corps Padgate it would seem from this that during the war whilst too young to fight himself, he was a member of the A.T.C. aka “Air Cadets”.
Whilst for most soldiers the war was over by this point, for both the Royal Air Force Bomb Disposal Flights and Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Squadrons who received this clasp to the GSM for their work in Explosive Ordnance Disposal, their work was not even close to being done, as United Kingdom, as well as overseas in places such as Germany, were still full of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind from the war.
