#10498, James Gilbert Horatio NEWMAN

James hated his work as a surveyor but was a natural musician and entered the dance band era of the early 30s playing sax and double bass in dance bands in London including his own trio and Joe Loss. He joined the Territorial Army as war broke out and then later went to OCTU and took a short service commission in 1942.

The story of his MBE.
He was serving in the RAOC at 9 BOD Tall al Kabir, Egypt in 1948 as a Captain. One day a small fire went unnoticed in an ammunition compound on the edge of the base, which led to ammo going off like an enormous firework show. Word reached Capt. Newman elsewhere on the base and he realised that there were 2 Egyptian civilian workers in a hut near the centre of the compound. When he arrived with his driver, ammo was exploding all over the place, he spotted some sheets of corrugated iron which could cover the jeep and he and his driver (who bravely volunteered) drove at speed through the gates to the hut and although the older civilian came out quickly the young tea boy was under a table and refused so had to be pulled out and carried to the waiting jeep. They got away in time just as the whole lot was going up. The Captain and his driver were both decorated.