Charles Alfred Duncan

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Private Charles Alfred Duncan (1920-1943) was a private in the Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom) who was posthumously awarded the George Cross.

Private Duncan was born in Bexhill-on-Sea in 1920. He was a member of the the Signal Platoon in the 4th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. On the 10th of July 1943 in M'Saken in Tunisia his squad had been removing the fuses from their grenades in a confined area after the postponement of a parachute operation in Sicily when a live device was dropped on the ground. Duncan retrieved it, found the pin was out and the fuse burning and dropped on the grenade to shield his fellows from the inevitable blast. Duncan was posthumously awarded the George Cross for the self sacrifice he showed by throwing himself on a grenade which had fallen among his comrades ^[1]. Notice of his award appeared in the London Gazette of the 9th of November 1943. He is buried in Enfidaville War Cemetery in Enfidaville, Tunisia. His medal was presented to the Airborne Forces Museum at Aldershot in 1972^[2].

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