b. 12/12/1962 Banbury, Oxfordshire.
DATE OF GC ACTION: 21/09/2013 Nairobi, Kenya.
Dominic Charles Rupert Troulan (1962-) was born on 12th December 1962 in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and spent his childhood in South Devon. He joined the ranks of the Royal Marines in June 1979 aged 16, and served in 42 Commando in the Falklands conflict, 40 Commando, and the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines.
Dominic C R Troulan
GC QGM
As a Sergeant in the Royal Marines, he was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal (QGM) in 1993 for service in Northern Ireland. As a Warrant Officer Class 1 in the British Army’s Parachute Regiment, he received a short-service commission in the rank of Captain on 15th April 2002. He was granted an intermediate regular commission in the same rank on 1st January 2005, and was promoted to Major on 31sts July 2008. He entered the reserves on 31st August 2009.
Since then Dom has been working in East Africa as a Security Risk Manager, it was whilst he was living in the region that he found himself leading the hostage release and recovery of Paul and Rachel Chandler, Judith Tebbutt (UK citizens) and many others in Nairobi, Kenya on 21st September 2013.
On that day, a group of heavily-armed terrorists entered the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya and started to murder men, women and children indiscriminately. Dominic Troulan, a security consultant working in Nairobi, was contacted by a friend who asked him to go to the incident to try and locate the friend’s wife and daughter.
On arrival at the Mall, Troulan contacted the family by telephone and entered the Mall. He was armed with only a pistol while the area was dominated by terrorists armed with grenades and machine guns. Nevertheless, Troulan managed to bring the two women to safety.
Realising that large numbers of civilians remained trapped while the terrorists continued to kill indiscriminately, Troulan re-entered the Mall. Over the course of several hours, he went into the building at least a dozen times and on each occasion managed to bring many innocent civilians to safety. He was fired on twice by the terrorists but managed to force them back. By now, Troulan was exhausted, dehydrated and at the limit of his mental capacity. He was about to stop when a distress call was received from a woman who was trapped, injured and bleeding. Once again, Troulan entered the Mall and brought the woman to safety.
Despite the strain of his efforts, it should be noted that Troulan had the presence of mind to realise that the terrorists could be hiding among the survivors. Troulan enlisted help and searched the civilians once he had led them to safety, thus ensuring that no terrorists were hiding in their midst.
In the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June 2017, Dominic Troulan was awarded the George Cross. On 13th October 2017, he was presented with his medal by Queen Elizabeth II at an investiture at Buckingham Palace. In May 2018, he attended his first reunion of the VC and GC Association in London.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: WITH RECIPIENT.
