大象传媒

During our research into WWII we discovered that in our wee village of Hurlford we had a real life war hero. One of my classmates brought in a newspaper clippiing from nearly twenty years ago, which told the story of George Wylie.
George Wylie was born in Hurlford, which is just outside the town of Kilmarnock in 1910. He was awarded the George Cross from Bravery during WWII.
The award was presented to Mr Wylie in honour of his heroic attempts to defuse a Nazi bomb which had landed in St Paul's Cathedral in London.
The bomb made a twenty seven foot deep crater when it landed. Mr Wylie, who was on duty that night, fought his way past a flaming gas jet and was one of the first Sappers to reach the bomb. In all, it took three days to make the twenty foot long bomb safe enought to be moved and when it finally exploded on Hackney Marsh it left a forty foot crater.
But Mr Wylie never told anyone about his amazing bravery and the fact that he had been awarded the George Cross by King George VI. Most of his friends and family after the war knew nothing about it until he sold his medal in 1984 to a London bank, who then presented it to St Paul's Cathedral.
George Wylie died in London in 1987, and we are very proud to have discovered about his heroic act as we would not like this Hurlford man's bravery to ever be forgotten.

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