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Captain John Anthony Clancy
Unit : No.3 Platoon, "A" Company, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion
Awards : Military Cross
For devotion to duty and outstanding gallantry, Normandy 1st August - 5th September 1944. This officer, by his personal example, sustaining courage and initiative has been a great inspiration to all men of his company throughout the above campaign. His utter disregard for his personal safety in difficult situations has become a byword in the battalion. On 18th August 1944 at 2230 hours at Goustranville, "A" Company was given as an objective in a Battalion night attack, the south Bridge over the eastern tributary of the river Dives. Captain Clancy was Acting Second-in-Command of the Company at the time. He led No.3 Platoon on an assault against one Machine Gun position, and then pinned down by another off to a flank he personally organised and led a small group armed with grenades, silenced this second enemy position and took five prisoners. The momentum with which this officer led his Platoon enabled them to capture the bridge, vital to his Brigade, before the enemy could demolish it. Numerous prisoners and a considerable amount of arms and equipment were captured by his command. This splendid effort by Captain Clancy is but one concrete example of his outstanding courage, initiative and leadership which has been so much in evidence and a characteristic of his work throughout the whole period.