In 1958, he was elected a member of the colonial parliament, where he was noted for his combination of kindness and bluntness¿Patton was a magistrate and acted as a temporary appeal court judge-but liked to say that he was a better plumber than lawyer.

¿ Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, London, May 25, 1996

The death of the Hon. John M.S. Patton marks the passing of one more of the gentlemen politicians who asked what they could do for Bermuda. There are a few more left, but not many. They were people who brought talent and dignity to public life because it was honourable to serve. As a group, they asked very little, if anything, in return.

¿ Editorial, The Royal Gazette, May 17, 1996

One of the national traits of Bermuda is our ability to improvise. Living way out here in the bush that is the Atlantic Ocean, "700 miles at sea" in the Talbot Brothers' song of old, we learned to do things for ourselves, to make do, patch up, to "reuse and recycle" before it became fashionable.

At least that is what we did before we all were elevated to higher planes of riches and quality of life that began in earnest with air tourism in the 1950s. Many now perhaps do not know how to use a hammer, or fix the plumbing, or wire up the electricity to serve for another day or two.

It has become, or was until the financial disaster of the last few weeks, easier to buy than to improvise and fix it yourself. As a symbol of the malaise, Walmart, for example, has made things so cheap, perhaps in several senses of the word, that many have lost the skills or the inclination to make things themselves.

Remnants of the trait are still to be found when working with tradesmen on say, a construction site. All types of improvised methods are used that would have us all thrown off sites in Britain, with its severely regulated health and safety at work laws. The tendency to get the job done by whatever means may be one of the reasons why it is almost impossible to get local workers to wear helmets and other such safety gear, despite regulations at hand.

The present story has not a small element of Bermudian improvisation in it, although the hero ¿ for that is what the King declared him to be ¿ born on the island but growing up in Canada, spent his formative years overseas following the premature death of his father.

The Hon. John MacMillan Stevenson Patton, GC, CBE, is the only Bermudian who has been awarded the George Cross, which is the "highest civil decoration of the Commonwealth of Nations, and is the civilian counterpart of the Victoria Cross".

Three weeks after his 25th birthday, Lieut. Patton was on war duty as a member of the Royal Canadian Engineers in Surrey in England, during the September 1940 Battle of Britain, which saw bombs falling from the sky, almost like confetti in parades.

While not on such duty or having any experience of bomb disposal, he was called to the factory at Brooklands that produced most of the Hawker (appropriately) Hurricane fighter planes that were vital in stemming the German invasion of English airspace. In a yard at the factory, a large, unexploded bomb was presented to the young engineer and he and a colleague proceeded to remove it, without regard for life or limb, as its detonation would have destroyed the vital aeroplane assembly plant.

Patton and Captain Douglas Cunnington rolled the bomb onto a sheet of corrugated iron, which was then attached to a truck by a wire cable, to make a sled of sorts. "While Cunnington drove it to a crater made by an earlier bomb, Patton held the bomb upright to keep its detonator from touching anything." A few hours later, the bomb did what it was supposed to do originally and blew up. For doing that "hazardous work in a very brave manner", John Patton became the first Canadian soldier in the war to be awarded the George Cross and Captain Cunnington received the George Medal.

Patton survived his improvised ride and bomb-hugging experience to live a full life back in Bermuda as a lawyer after the war for half a century, including 16 years as a Member of Parliament and a period as Minister of Works and Engineering, the last perhaps a return to his army profession. Succumbing to illness at the age of 80, he left a family of six children, who, like many in post-war generations, have not had to face unexploded bombs, at least of a military nature.

The measure of the man perhaps can be said to have started at his foot, when he was rejected for army service, having signed up with the Bermuda Volunteer Rifles and then transferred to Canada. There he was sent home, as one of his feet had a deformed "hammer toe" and it was thought he would be incapable of long marches.

Undeterred and at his own expense, Patton had the offending digit chopped off and acceptance in "A" Company, Canadian Pioneer Battalion, Royal Canadian Engineers, followed as fast as he could hop back to the medical examiner. After a period in Britain, he served in India and Burma, before going to law school and then returning to Bermuda with his wife and first son.

John Patton remains the only Bermudian to have been awarded the George Cross, which was created by King George VI for acts of outstanding gallantry, civilian or military, in the very month that Patton was disposing of the unexploded bomb.

As his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, later wrote: "In the early days of the war The King was impressed by some very heroic deeds in mine and bomb disposal; deeds performed far from any human enemy but requiring the peak of courage for a considerable period. He felt that no existing award for gallantry reflected such an impersonal Bravery." While this was originally to be an award for "outstanding civilian bravery", it was extended to military personnel, who were not eligible for military awards, as such were only applicable to actions "under direct orders of commanders in the battlefield".

Thus the military man John Patton was awarded a civil George Cross, the medal itself being made of silver and inscribed with the words, "For Gallantry", or as otherwise described in its Warrant: for "acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger". The Pattons have been in Bermuda since the middle of the 1700s, so we can lay full claim to this Bermudian hero, John, who was once among us for most of his mortal coil.

I thank Dr. J.M.S. (Jack) Patton for kindly supplying information and images from his family papers and Trevor. G. Moniz, JP, MP, for bringing this subject to my attention.

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Dr. Edward Harris, MBE, JP, FSA, Bermudian, is the Executive Director of the Bermuda Maritime Museum. This article represents his opinions and not necessarily those of persons associated with the Museum. Comments can be sent to drharrislogic.bm or by telephone to 332-5480.