b. 1988 Swansea, Wales.
DATE OF CGC ACTION: 13/06/2012 Nahr-e-Saraj, Afghanistan.
Owen E Davis CGC
Owen was born in Swansea, South Wales in 1988. At school, he was a keen sportsman, particularly in rowing. His ability saw him gain national recognition and there was high hopes he might represent Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Unfortunately, a back injury saw him ruled out of contention. In a change of career choice, he then enlisted in the British Army, joining the Royal Marines.
By the summer of 2012, Owen had risen to the rank of Captain. He was employed with the task of training a local 25 man unit of the Afghan Local Police in the Nahr-e-Saraj district of Afghanistan. Captain Davis in order to gain their trust, cooked and ate with them, and learnt the local language of Pashto. At the time and following his exploits which would lead to the award of the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, he was likened to the story of Captain T.E. Lawrence, or “Lawrence of Arabia”. When asked about the comparison in an interview, Captain Davis responded with “So long as I was providing intelligence I could just get on with it. My job was to go into areas where we didn’t have a lot of knowledge, to speak to the villagers and to train the local police officers. In these areas allegiances could change in a moment, everyone knew somebody in the Taliban. I would lead these Afghan elements in engagements against the insurgents.”
Davis’s friendships with his Afghans were tested to the extreme on 13th June 2012, when the ALP joined soldiers from the Grenadier Guards on an operation to capture a Taliban sniper – a mission which cost the life of Lance Corporal James Ashworth, who was later awarded the VC.
Captain Davis recalled the incident in the same interview – “Me and the Afghans knew there was enemy inside the compound so we pushed in. The guy with me was cut down pretty much straight away, killed after taking a burst of 15 to 20 rounds. He was touching distance from me. As I moved forward to drag him out a grenade rolled around the corner. I jumped over a wall, landing upside down in a ditch. The guy who died was in his late 20s and was someone I was very close to. So I was really, really sad. Losing a close colleague is the worst feeling in the world.”
On a follow-up assault, L/Cpl Ashworth was killed trying to post a grenade through the window of a Taliban mud hut. Davis cleared the remaining enemy from the building and rescued another British casualty. Davis was recommended for, and awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, which he received from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on 28th November 2013.
Shortly, after the investiture, Captain Davis chose to leave the Royal Marines, to retrain as a doctor. He began a medical degree at the University of Keele. He was hoping to work for a medical charity in Africa when he qualified. In 2017, he appeared in an S4C Welsh language documentary which showed him climbing to the Rwenzori, or ‘Mountains of the Moon’ in Uganda, central Africa.
CGC CITATION:
For his courage on operations in Afghanistan during the period 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2013, in particular in an action to neutralise a sniper in a village peppered with multiple IEDs,
LOCATION OF MEDAL: WITH RECIPIENT.
