Obituary--Frank Naughton GC.

Frank Naughton GC, died on Friday 18 June 2004 aged 89. He had originally been awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal (EGM) for saving a fellow soldier from drowning while serving with the Royal Tank Corps in India in 1936. When the George Cross was instituted by King George VI on 24 September 1940 it was decreed that surviving EGM recipients were to exchange their medals for the GC. Frank Naughton was the last survivor of the 112 EGM recipients who exchanged medals.

On 5 August 1936 Naughton was based at Poona (now Pune) when two men of his unit, the 10th Light Tank Company, were swept off Irish Bridge into the flooded River Indrayan. He immediately dived off the bridge to render assistance. Exhausted by the strong cross and underwater currents and unable to find either of the men, he had managed to regain shallow water when he saw LCpl Temple appear on the surface about 40 yards away. He again entered the river and succeeded in bringing his colleague ashore about 100 yards downstream.

Naughton was born on 13 March 1915 at Burton-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, and educated at the Guild Street Central School. After completing his six years' engagement as a regular, he returned to England in November 1937 to join the police at Plymouth. In 1939 he was recalled to the colours as a reservist and served as an instructor until posted back to India in 1942. In March 1943, Naughton was commissioned into the Royal Armoured Corps and served in Burma in 1944-45. He rejoined the Plymouth police after the war, first serving on the beat, then going into administration. On retiring from the Police in 1968, he joined the English China Clay Company in Plymouth as a transport supervisor for ten years. He is survived by his wife and their two sons.

Two Australians, the late Frederick March and the late Sir Gordon Taylor awarded EGMs in 1924 and 1935 exchange their medals for the GC.

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