Marcel Comeau MM

A fourth generation Englishman of Nova Scotian ancestry who joined the Royal Air Force as an aircraft rigger in 1938. In 1940 he was posted to No.33 Sqn then operating Hurricanes in Operation Compass, General Wavell's successful desert campaign against the Italians. He then joined No.11 Sqn fighting in Greece. When Greece fell he was evacuated with the squadron to Crete where he was able to rejoin No.33 Sqn. There he served throughout the Battle of Crete and was awarded the Military Medal for the following gallant conduct. :

In the course of a heavy bombing and machine gun attack on Maleme, a bomb exploded on a trench causing 2 soldiers, both Greeks, to be buried in the debris. Aircraftman Comeau, displaying greatest bravery, left the shelter of his trench and, although the station was under continuous fire, managed to dig them out with his hands. One of them however subsequently died. Later on, in the face of enemy fire, Aircraftman Comeau secured from another position a gun which greatly improved the defence of his own position.

When the Germans finally captured Maleme, Comeau walked over the White Mountains to Sfakia, there to be taken off by the sea to Egypt. Marcel Comeau is the author of the classic first-person account of the Battle of Crete Operation Mercury, first published in 1961.

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