FRANK THOMAS  – Served at Gipton 1938 – 1946

Leading fireman Frank Thomas, 32, of Bayswater Avenue, Leeds, rescued an eight-month-old baby from a blazing house in his own street.  The mother, Mrs May Moxon, 29, had run into the street with her night clothing ablaze after lighting the fire.

As a fireman Thomas and a neighbour – Mr HH Hudson – were attending to her, she spoke of her young baby alone in the burning house.  Fireman Thomas, almost blinded and choked by clouds of smoke, entered the house and brought the baby to safety.

(From the Yorkshire Evening Post, Saturday, January 10th 1942)

On 14th March 1941 during the blitz, a bomb hit Leeds Museum.  Attending with Solomon Belinski, both on ladders, a second bomb hit the building and Solomon sustained life threatening injuries and later died.  Frank survived by the grace of God.