The proud mum of Huddersfield’s hero cave diver has backed calls for him to get the George Cross.
Thousands of people have supported a bid to award Britain’s second highest honour to the British divers who helped rescue a group of schoolboys from an underground cave in Thailand.
Among them was Jason Mallinson from Oakes who went out to support the lead divers Rick Stanton and John Volanthen in the treacherous Tham Luang cave near Chiang Rai.
Lord Ashcroft, former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, took to Twitter to ask people to back his call to give the men the George Cross.
He said: “Please retweet if you would support a George Cross or George Medal to the two volunteer Brit cave divers who found the missing Thai boys and participated in their difficult rescue ...”
His post was re-tweeted 11,000 times.
The George Cross is awarded for acts of the greatest heroism or for most conspicuous courage in circumstance of extreme danger not in the presence of the enemy.
Only the Victoria Cross is higher, but that is only given to military personnel for bravery in the presence of the enemy.
Jason’s mum, Anne Mallinson, said the authorities should go one step further than giving it only to the two lead divers.
“I can only speak as a mother that’s very, very proud,” she said. “But everybody that’s been involved in that operation deserves some kind of medal or recognition.
“I’m sure all the families of the divers will feel the same. It’s not a one man operation, it was a huge thing that involved dozens of people.”
The British volunteers that saved the 12 Thai boys and their football coach from a flooded cave are reported to have flown back to the UK today (Thurs).
Anne said she had not yet spoken to her son but was relieved he was safely home.
“We’ve been glued to the TV for a week, as you can imagine,” she said.
“I know he’s safe now, that’s the main thing.”
Anne, a retired social worker from Beaumont Park, revealed her son, now 50, had always liked confined spaces.
“He certainly doesn’t get this from me or his dad,” she said. “Some people are just born to do extraordinary things and he’s one of them.
“I remember when he was only little I went to check on him in bed and he wasn’t there.
“I looked around and he wasn’t anywhere and then I found him in a cupboard.
“He’d made a nice little bed with a blanket at the bottom of it.
“As a child he was always the first to do things that the other kids didn’t do. They would look at him and go ‘cor!’.
“He started caving when he was 16 and he took to it like a duck to water.
“He progressed to cave diving when he was at university in Portsmouth. He joined a caving club in North Yorkshire and it just went on from there.”
Anne said there would be no huge homecoming celebrations as her son was not one to seek glory.
“He doesn’t like the attention,” she said. “He’s very unassuming, modest person. He’ll just think it’s job done and move on to the next one.
“He’ll probably go caving again in the next few days although I imagine he’s got a lot of rest to catch up with.”
At the start of Wednesday's full council meeting Mayor of Kirklees Gwen Lowe said: “Please can I ask that the council gives its thanks to Jason Mallinson, of Oakes, to be placed on record in respect of his involvement in the rescue of those trapped in the flooded caves in Thailand.”
Her words were greeted by a chorus of “Hear, hear” from the chamber and a round of applause for Mr Mallinson.
