Lance Bombardier John Gelder, 2 troop, was awarded the Military Medal in recognition of gallant and distinguished service on 28/29 July 1944 during Operation Healing 2 at Spilje Albania. He had previously taken part in operations at Scaletta, Salerno, and Hvar [1][2][3].

Award Recommendation
"This Non-Commissioned Officer showed outstanding courage, leadership and initiative. The attack in which he took part developed in three phases.

In Phase 1 the attack was on a ridge studded with machine-gun posts. On the first burst of fire, the Section Sergeant and Corporal were hit, and Gelder immediately took control of the sub-section leading them with dash and no thought of personal danger. He saw that another section had eleven casualties from a machine-gun post, subsequently found to be manned by a German officer; he stalked this post despite the danger, and killed the officer with his Tommy gun.

On Phase 2, Gelder collected remnants of the section and put in another attack on a machine-gun post, capturing the post and killing the occupants.

On Phase 3 the objective was a strongly fortified house. The first attack was beaten off and Gelder was wounded. He refused to withdraw, and again went into the attack. He was hit in the face by a grenade, which exploded at his feet seriously wounding him. Despite this fact, he went on firing until his magazine was empty, encouraged the other men, who were now under mortar as well as machine-gun fire, and tried to carry a comrade out of action until finally collapsing. Gelder, who showed courage at Scaletta, Salerno and Hvar, acted as a Sergeant throughout this action, and was a great inspiration to his men. His gallantry in past actions earned him a recommendation at Salerno" [2].

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