Orders, Decorations and Medals

Pair: Sergeant (Helicopter Pilot) G. J. Beeson, Royal Artillery and Army Air Corps

General Service 1962, 2 clasps, Borneo, Northern Ireland (23628704 Sgt., R.A.); Regular Army L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 2nd issue (23628704 W.O.2., A.A.C.); together with original citation for ‘Far East Land Forces Commendation’, for an incident in which his helicopter suffered difficulties whilst airlifting an injured soldier; original Regimental Conduct Sheet giving details of the same incident; original photograph of his crashed helicopter; copied service papers, nearly extremely fine and an interesting pair £600-700

The following is extracted from the Special General Routine Order, issued by Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Pearson, K.C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O. (Commander Far East Land Forces, Singapore), dated 8 April 1968.

Act of distinguished conduct: ‘On Wednesday, 7th February 1968, Sergeant G. J. Beeson, R.A., whilst serving as a Sioux helicopter pilot in 6 Light Regiment Air Troop in Malaysia, was tasked at short notice to collect a seriously injured soldier from Asahan Ranges.

He landed his helicopter near to the casualty on an uncompleted road that passed through undulating jungle with trees rising to heights of up to two hundred feet on either side. The casualty, who was unconscious, was secured to an external litter and a medical orderly was carried as a passenger in the aircraft cabin.

Due to the confined and dusty nature of the landing site, Sergeant Beeson was forced to climb out of it vertically. On reaching a height of approximately eighty feet and with very little forward speed the aircraft sustained a major transmission failure resulting in a complete loss of power to the main and tail rotors.

Inspite of the low height and speed at which he was flying his heavily loaded aircraft, Sergeant Beeson retained sufficient control to keep it in line with the road and gained enough forward speed to make a heavy landing without injury to his passengers.

On landing, a section of the left forward skid broke off and the aircraft overturned, suffering severe damage. Despite the very grave fire risk caused by leaking fuel in close proximity to a hot engine, Sergeant Beeson immediately went to the assistance of the casualty, who was still secured to the litter underneath the aircraft, supervising his release and removal to a safe area.

Sergeant Beeson displayed skill and airmanship of a very high order throughout this emergency which almost certainly saved the lives of his passengers. He then directed the release of his casualty with complete disregard for his own personal safety.

This act of distinguished conduct has been brought to the notice of the Commander, Far East Land Forces, who directs that an entry shall be made in the documents of Sergeant Beeson in accordance with Queen’s Regulations 1961, paragraph 1633.’