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Major David William Maurice Gay MC (2 April 1920 – 10 July 2010) was a decorated British Army officer, English cricketer, and later an educator. Gay served with distinction in World War II, earning the Military Cross during the course of the war. Following the war, he played first-class cricket, before embarking on a career as a teacher, which eventually led him to New Zealand, where he lived out the remainder of his life. ==Early life and war service== Born in Kensington, London on 2 April 1920, he was the son of Stuart Eddington Gay of Rye, Sussex, and Margaret Muriel Kennedy.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=David William Maurice Gay MC )〕 He was educated at Shrewsbury School, where he excelled at sports, including cricket, which he played for the school.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Teams David Gay played for )〕 After leaving Shrewsbury School, Gay joined the Merchant Navy as an ordinary seaman in December 1938. Two months after joining, the ship he was on caught fire near the Pitcairn Islands and took three days to be extinguished.〔 Gay fought in World War II, fighting in France with the Royal Sussex Regiment as part of the British Expeditionary Force. Following the unsuccessful defence of France, he was evacuated from Dunkirk.〔 Following the Dunkirk Evacuation, he was commissioned as an emergency commission to the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays). In January 1942, he was promoted from Cadet to 2nd Lieutenant. He served with the Queen's Bays in the North African Campaign, and took command of Troop B Squadron in August 1942. He fought in all the major battles of the campaign, from both Battles of El Alamein, in which he was wounded,〔 to the campaigns end in Tunisia. During the Tunisia campaign, he was said to have shot down a Me 109 with his Browning Rifle, after which it exploded and crashed among the Welsh Guards, setting alight to some of their trucks.〔 He saw action later in the war during the Italian Campaign, including action at Coriano Ridge, during which on 20 September 1944 he carried out the actions which earned him his Military Cross. Commanding a troop of tanks in an attack on the ridge, an important target in the push toward Rimini, they came under heave machine-gun and anti-tank fire, holding their advance up and causing heavy casualties.〔 The Queen's Bays lost two tanks, causing the accompanying King's Royal Rifle Corps to take cover in nearby buildings, which instantly came under heavy fire. Providing covering fire and ordering his remaining tanks to cover the evacuation of the wounded. Gay then dismounted his own tank, ran across ground which was under heavy sniper and artillery fire, running to one of the two tanks which had been crippled and from which none of their crews had emerged from.〔 Entering one of the tanks, he found all but one crew member dead, with the one surviving member, its commander, seriously wounded. Removing the wounded crew member from the tank, while being shot at from close range, Gay successful managed to take the officer to safety; despite this, the officer was hit twice while being carried to safety, and died from his wounds shortly thereafter. Gay's driver, who had witnessed the rescue, described it as the "bravest thing" he had ever seen.〔 His receipt of the Military Cross was mentioned in dispatches in the ''London Gazette'' in February 1945. He continued the war in Italy, on one occasion he was carrying out a night-time reconnaissance on foot with the Gurkhas to establish a point for crossing the River Marano. During this mission, he was mistaken for a German soldier by one of the Gurkhas, who silently crept up behind him with his kukri poised to strike Gay. The Gurkha placed his hands on Gay's shoulders, felt his pips he was wearing and realised his mistake before he could strike.〔 Gay calculated that throughout the course of the war he had seventeen near misses.〔 In February 1945, he obtained the rank of lieutenant on a permanent basis, having held the position temporarily since February 1943. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「David Gay」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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