Philip John Gardner

Captain Philip John ("Pip") Gardner VC MC (25 December 1914 − 16 February 2003) was a British Army officer and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was educated at Dulwich College between 1928 and 1932.

Phillip John Gardner
Philip Gardner in January 1942.
Nickname(s)	"Pip"
Born	18 November 1914 Sydenham, London, England
Died	16 February 2003 (2003-02-17) (aged 88) Hove, East Sussex,,England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army
Years of service	1938–1945
Rank	Captain
Service number	132595
Unit	Westminster Dragoons Royal Tank Regiment
Battles / wars	Second World War
Awards	Victoria Cross Military Cross

Gardner was 26 years old, and an acting captain in the 4th Royal Tank Regiment, attached to the 70th Infantry Division during the Second World War's Siege of Tobruk. During Operation Crusader, an attempt by the Eighth Army to lift the siege, the following deed took place for which Gardner was awarded the Victoria Cross.

On 23 November 1941 at Tobruk, Libya, Captain Gardner was ordered to take two tanks to the rescue of two armoured cars of the King's Dragoon Guards, which were out of action and under heavy attack. While one of his tanks gave covering fire the captain dismounted from the other in the face of heavy fire, hitched a tow rope to one of the cars, then lifted into it an officer, both of whose legs had been blown off. The tow rope broke, so Captain Gardner returned to the armoured car, but was immediately wounded in the neck, arm and leg. Despite this he managed to transfer the wounded man to the second tank and returned to British lines through intense shell-fire.^[1]

He was captured after the Battle of Gazala and became a prisoner of war (POW) for the rest of the war. This, unfortunately, resulted in an injury that left him with a deformed toe.^[2]

His VC is on display at the Imperial War Museum in London.

References

1. "No. 35448". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 February 1942. p. 645.
2. Lewisham War Memorials

• Harvey, David. Monuments to Courage (1999)
• Laffin, John. British VCs of World War 2 (1997)
• Woods, Rex. One man's desert: the story of Captain Pip Gardner, VC, MC Kimber, 1986 ISBN 0-7183-0612-0 ISBN 978-0718306120
• obituary in The Times (London)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)

External links

• Captain P.J. Gardner in The Art of War exhibition at the UK National Archives
• Gardner Philip Gardner^{[permanent dead link]}