Wexford woman receives Order of Malta award for heroics during London terror attack

A Wexford woman was the recipient of a distinguished award recently…

Wexford woman, Joanne Saunsbury, was given an Order of Malta award for her heroic actions during London terror attack.

On Saturday, the Wexford Order of Malta Officer in Charge escorted Joanne Saunsbury to a very special ceremony where Most Rev Eamon Martin, Archbishop of Armagh, presented Joanne Saunsbury with the Cross of Merit pro Merito Melitensi, recognising her Courage and Skill in the face of the 2017 terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge, where she provided a member of the public with life-saving care.

The Cross of Merit pro Merito Melitensi is an esteemed award which was approved by the Grand Master and the Sovereign Council of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, which is based in Rome.

Mrs Saunsbury received her First Aid and Basic Life Support training with us here in the Wexford Unit of Order of Malta Ireland, and was awarded this at the Order’s Annual Requiem Mass.

She received the award for her bravery and life-saving skills she displayed during the London terror attacks at Westminster Bridge.

On the 22nd of March 2017, Khalid Masood, 52, drove his grey Hyundai across Westminster Bridge in London hitting pedestrians along the way and killing two. He crashed the car into railings outside the Parliament Building and entered the grounds of the Palace of Westminster, where he fatally stabbed police officer Keith Palmer.

The Metropolitan Police later confirmed that five people had died – PC Palmer, teacher Aysha Frade, US tourist Kurt Cochran, retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes, and Romanian tourist Andreea Cristea. More than 50 other people were hurt, some with “catastrophic injuries”.

Wexford woman Joanne Saunsbury (nee Crofton), then 34, was working on a tour bus travelling across Westminster Bridge when the attack began.

A man, who was lying unconscious on the ground nearby and required urgent medical attention.

Despite the attack on Parliament continuing at the end of the bridge and sounds of gunfire all around, Ms. Saunsbury with no regard for her personal safety responded to the call for first aiders. As she later recounted:

“There were people down and there was a cry for first-aiders, so I was down the stairs and off the bus so fast I actually didn’t think, I wasn’t thinking of my own safety, I wasn’t thinking of anything else,” she said.

Ms. Saunsbury rushed to the dying man’s aid later telling Police that:

“One person there wasn’t moving. He was non-responsive and I feared he was going to die when I couldn’t find a pulse. I was trying to get him to breathe and to get his heart beating, so I began CPR. The person I was helping was severely wounded. It was just horrific, there was blood and there were people lying in pools of blood.”

Due to her quick thinking and bravery, she managed to resuscitate the casualty.

Interviewed later by several media outlets Ms. Saunsbury said:

“I didn’t get his name or anything about him, but he was so badly injured and I couldn’t find a pulse, but where there’s life there’s hope. I was doing CPR until the paramedics came. I learned CPR from my training with the Order of Malta in Wexford.”

This incredible story of bravery in the face of danger shows that learning First Aid can be the difference between life and death.