Elizabeth Everitt was posthumously awarded the Albert Medal for Lifesaving after she was killed while attempting to rescue a number of American servicemen from a Douglas A-20 Havoc bomber that crashed near her home after colliding with another aircraft of the same flight.
In May 1944, Elizabeth Ann(e) Everitt, a recently widowed nurse, was out milking cows at her farm in Ashdon near Saffron Walden when a US Havoc bomber crashed in a nearby field.
Their commanding officer spoke of Mrs Everitt's "noble and courageous effort."
Everitt was posthumously awarded the Albert Medal on 10 July 1944, the citation read: The KING has been pleased to approve that the Albert Medal be awarded posthumously to Mrs Elizabeth Anne Everitt in recognition of the conspicuous gallantry she displayed in her efforts to rescue the crew of a burning aircraft which crashed, loaded with bombs, into a field near her home.
[5]The following year her young son, Anthony, received her medal from the King at Buckingham Palace.