Horace James Cannon

Horace Cannon GC (1895–1975) Cannon joined the 16th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment in 1915. Cannon then volunteered to join the Royal Flying Corps, was accepted, and became an aircraft mechanic in France and later in England.

Promoted to flight sergeant, he was billeted at RFC Station Grantham in Lincolnshire (renamed RAF Spitalgate in 1942) on 21 January 1918, when a warplane crash-landed from a height of about one hundred and fifty feet and then burst into flames Cannon and another flight sergeant risked their lives to rescue the pilot, who later died from his injuries. Cannon was honoured for his efforts and was awarded the Albert Medal for gallantry, which later became the George Cross for living recipients (including Cannon) when the Albert Medal was withdrawn from use in 1971.

Cannon was born in Bradford. After Cannon retired from the RAF he opened a car dealership and repair shop in the city.

Coincidentally, in retirement, Cannon lived next door to George and Mary Hall and their daughter Nanette Hanson (née Hall). Hanson became a teacher in Dundee and was herself awarded the Albert Medal in 1968 for her actions saving the lives of children in her care in a school siege in Dundee the previous year, in which she was shot and killed. Since Hanson's award was posthumous, her Albert Medal did not become a George Cross in 1971 as her former neighbour's did.