Branch was born on 27 October 1913. His father, Charles Churchill Branch, was a barrister and Alpine mountaineer. Educated at Eton like his father, G R Branch then went up to Balliol College, Oxford (his father had been at New College). Guy Branch joined No 601 Squadron, AAF in late 1936 and was commissioned in May 1937.
On 11 February 1938 he was on an instructional cross-country flight in a Demon with Flying Officer Aidan Crawley, who achieved some celebrity as a journalist, broadcaster, Kent County cricketer and MP. After refuelling at RAF Netheravon, they took off in poor weather and crashed in flames on the road nearby. Branch escaped from the wreckage but, realising that Crawley was still trapped, he went back into the flames and pulled Crawley out. For this act Branch was awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal.
Branch went to France with ‘A’ Flight of 601 on 17 May 1940. On the 20th he destroyed a Do 17. The flight rejoined the squadron at Tangmere on 22 May. Branch was posted to No 145 Squadron, also based at Tangmere, on 1 June.
On 15 July 1940 Branch shared in the probable destruction of a Do 17 and on 8 August he claimed the destruction of two Ju 87s. He failed to return from an engagement south of Swanage on 11 August. His Hurricane, P 2951, crashed into the sea and his body was later washed up on the French coast.
He was 26 and is buried in the churchyard at Quiberville, Normandy. On 23 September 1939 his sister Bridget had married Flying Officer (later Squadron Leader) T E Hubbard of 601 at Boxgrove Priory, Sussex.
It is sometimes suggested that Branch’s EGM was exchanged for a George Cross after the GC was instituted on 24 September 1940, but this is not the case. The warrant for the GC, published in the London Gazette on 31 January 1941, specifies that only living holders of the EGM and families of those who received the award posthumously after the outbreak of war were able and required to exchange the EGM for the GC.
