Brain, Cecil James Algernon Grant

Date of birth:: 1917 (Dublin, Ireland)
Nationality:: Irish

Biography

Service number: 41660, Royal Air Force.

Cecil Brain was educated at Stonyhurst College. In 1939 he resigned his commission as Second Lieutenant in the King’s Own Royal Regiment, when he was granted a commission in the R.A.F.

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Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Pilot Officer
Awarded on:: June 7th, 1940

Citation:
"One night in May 1940, during reconnaissance of the Louvain-Maastricht area, Pilot Officer Brain sighted a lighted convoy. After descending to a height of four hundred feet to select his point of attack, he climbed and bombed the convoy from twelve hundred feet scoring a direct hit and causing great destruction. He then again descended to four hundred feet and fired many thousand rounds of ammunition at troops and convoys."

Published in the London Gazette dated 7th June 1940.

Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Acting Squadron Leader
Unit:: No. 9 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Awarded on:: January 18th, 1944

Citation:
This captain of aircraft, now on his second tour of operational duty, has completed many sorties, during which he has always shown the greatest keenness and determination, pressing home his attacks against some of the most heavily defended targets in Germany. On a recent occasion, undeterred by the failure of one of the engines of his aircraft before reaching the enemy coast, Squadron Leader Brain flew on and successfully completed his mission."

Second DFC awarded as a bar for on the ribbon of the first DFC.

Sources

- The London Gazette, Issue 34866, dated Friday 7 June 1940
- Fourth Supplement to The London Gazette Issue 36335 published on the 14 January 1944
- The Times, Tuesday, Jan 18, 1944