§ 46. Mr. RookerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if his Department has yet completed its consideration of requests for posthumous awards for bravery at Wormhoudt in May 1940.
§ Mr. FreemanAwards and medals for battles and operations which took place during the second world war were examined in detail in 1946. It was judged that no further awards should be instituted after that date. This decision was approved by His Majesty King George VI, and the ruling remains in force today. I am therefore unable to recommend the grant of any posthumous awards for actions during the second world war.
Gallantry medals are awarded on the basis of recommendations put forward at or near the time of the incident. They are then subjected to selection by the appropriate chain of command. Although great care was taken during the 1946 review to consider those who deserved gallantry awards, there must inevitably have been very many acts of individual bravery which have not been formally recognised. This does not detract from the bravery shown by the individuals concerned.
I accept that there will inevitably be a sense of injustice that the great courage and self-sacrifice shown by Capt. James Frazer Lynn-Allen, CSM Augustus Jennings and Sgt. Stanley Moore, in the face of the brutality of their captors at Wormhoudt in May 1940, was not officially recognised. Captain Lynn-Allen first remonstrated with 221W the SS guards before being killed while assisting a wounded man to escape to safety. CSM Jennings and Sgt. Moore died smothering grenades with their bodies. Their actions deserve our highest praise and admiration and are, I know, a source of pride and comfort to the survivors of the massacre, their regiment and their relatives.
§ Mr. RookerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his policy towards the citing by authors and researchers of the war crimes interrogation unit's reports of the Wormhoudt massacre to which they have been given access in military museums.
§ Mr. Freeman[holding answer 6 July 1988]: I would expect access to public records in military museums to be in accordance with the criteria laid down in the public records lists.
§ Mr. RookerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he has any proposals to withdraw copies of war crimes interrogation unit's reports of the Wormhoudt massacre from military museums.
§ Mr. Freeman[holding answer 6 July 1988]: I have no present plans to do so.
§ Mr. RookerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish a list of titles of the documents relating to the Wormhoudt massacre which his Department is making available to the relevant authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany.
§ Mr. Freeman[holding answer 6 July 1988]: We will make all the evidence we have available to the relevant authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany. Once German legal proceedings are concluded, consideration will be given to opening, for public inspection, all the files so made available.