7264277 Sergeant John Edward Harrington DWYER John Edward Harrington Dwyer was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 8th September 1918, the son of Timothy Edward Dwyer and Annie (née Moran). In 1921 he and his parents lived at 18 Fertin St, Salford, Lancashire. Interestingly the family’s name is written down by the father as O’Dwyer, his father having been born in Berehaven, County Cork, Ireland. John married Kathleen A Ball in 1940 in Croydon, Surrey. During WW2 he enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps [RAMC]. He showed true heroism in battle when, on the 16th February 1942 as an acting Sergeant with No 9 Light Field Ambulance in the Middle East (Egypt and Libya), he successfully rescued an injured man from a blazing ambulance, carried him to safety and saved his life whilst being injured himself. This action led to him being recommended for and awarded the Military Medal on 12th May 1942. https://www.fold3.com/sub-image/688228020/dwyer-john-edward-harrington-uk-recommendations-for-honours-and-awards-1935-1943?terms=7264277 It is uncertain when John was attached to the 11th Parachute Battalion, but in 1944 he became Captain Stuart Mawsons’ Medical Sergeant. Captain Mawson describes him as: ‘short, sturdy and moustached…fair-haired and jaunty, with an aggressive deportment and a smile that taunted and deceived; deceived because its readiness might tempt the taking of liberties, which would have been unwise. Dwyer was tough physically and mentally. He had had battle experience of which I knew and was going to be thankful’. (Excerpt taken from the book Arnhem Doctor (2008) by Stuart Mawson). Alongside Captain Mawson and Private Adams, John was reported as missing on the 25th September 1944 and later reported as a Prisoner of War, in Stalag 11B, Fallingbstel, Germany and given the PoW number 118409. It is unclear what happened to him after this time, but in 1950 and 1951 he and his father Timothy were listed on the Electoral Registers living at 75 Parsons Green Lane, Fulham. By 1962 he was listed as a Café Proprietor. John’s address was 73 Munster Road, Fulham when he died on the 17th of June 1985.

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