Career
The decoration was awarded for the heroism he showed on the 10 November 1941 in Calgary, Alberta. LAC Gravell was on a training flight when the Tiger Moth aircraft he was flying in suffered mechanical failure and crashed in flames. Gravell managed to get clear but despite his serious injuries - he had lost an eye and was badly burned - he dived back into the inferno with his own clothes still on fire in a vain effort to rescue the pilot.
He was pulled from the wreckage but later died from his grievous burns.
Born in Sweden in 1922, he moved to Canada with his family in 1937 and became a naturalized Canadian citizen in July of that year. The aspiring air gunner had joined the Royal Canadian Air Force on 15 March 1941 from his adopted home town of Vancouver.
After completing his depot training, he had been posted to Number. 2 Wireless School in Calgary.
The following citation was published in the London Gazette on the 11 June 1942:
LAC Gravell is buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver.
