Nov 7th
FIRST AWARD TO RAID HERO
LIVERPOOL BOS’NS DISTINCTION
The distinction of being the first person to whom the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society has made an award for gallantry in connection with air raids is Mr George HUGHES of Lydia Ann St, Liverpool.
He is to receive the society’s silver medal and certificate in recognition of his “ Courageous and self-sacrificing conduct,” in helping to rescue the wounded from a public air raid shelter that had been struck by a bomb. Although severely injured himself, Mr HUGHES insisted on taking an active part in the rescue of the wounded.
Wounded on the head
Mr HUGHES was standing at the entrance to the shelter when a bomb fell and rendered him unconscious. He was wounded in the head by a second bomb which struck the shelter, but when he recovered consciousness he immediately went in search of help. He met an air raid warden who advised him to go to hospital at once, but, he insisted on returning to the shelter with the warden and taking an active part in the rescue of the wounded. It was only when he was satisfied that everyone had been attended to that he agreed to go to hospital. He was then in a state of almost complete collapse.
Mr HUGHES appears to have made a complete recovery from his injuries and only heard of the award when visited at his home yesterday by a Daily Post representative.
A ship’s bos’n Mr HUGHES has shown his courage before, for, earlier this year, he was bos’n and a gunner on the armed tanker EL CIERVO which survived a 2hr chase by a German submarine off the West Indies. The U-Boat tried to torpedo the tanker, which replied with such an effort that the enemy vessel is believed to have been sunk. Two days later the crew heard Lord Haw-Haw claim that the EL CIERVO had been sunk with all hands.
Other awards by the committee of the society under the chairmanship of Mr T. H. HARPER to :-
Silver medal and certificate
William David MILNE, 53 Moorland Rd, Birkenhead, seaman on the Birkenhead ferries, for with the assistance of another, rescued a man who had fallen into the Mersey on Sept 22nd.
Silver bar to the silver medal they already hold to
William John MANSELL, Dock gateman, Garston Dock, for rescuing a man who had fallen into the old Garston Dock on Sept 29th.
William Thomas ALLEN, 3 Meadow Bank, Rock Ferry, seaman of the Birkenhead Ferries for rescuing a man and woman who had fallen into the Mersey on Oct 4th.
Bronze medal and certificate to
William SHERLOCK, 7 Tudor Rd, stage hand, Birkenhead Ferries, for rendering valuable assistance in rescuing a man from the Mersey on Sept 22nd
Thomas Nelson BENNETT, 12 Markfield Rd, Bootle, for having stopped a runaway horse attached to a float in Melrose Rd on Oct 3rd.
Private John BARKER, 7th South Staffordshire Regt, for having rescued a woman from the River Dee on Oct 4th.
Harry BATTERSBY, 33 Cedar Rd, Leigh, for having rescued a man from the Mersey at Warrington on Oct 5th.
Harold HARDING, 22 Myrtle Grove, Warrington, for having rescued a woman from the Bridgewater Canal, Warrington on Oct 7th.
James William KEEPING, AB, EMPIRE WOODCOCK for having rescued a man from the Stalbridge Dock, Garston on Oct 7th.
Roland BISHOP, 79 Campbell Dr, Liverpool dock gateman, for having rescued a Dutch seaman from the Canada Dock on Oct 21st.
James MCMURTRY, 25 Altcar Ave, Liverpool, for rescuing a man from the Coburg Dock on Oct 22nd.
Frederick WOODHOUSE, 43 Malvern St, Belfast, AB on the E. L. HEYWOOD, for rescuing a man from the Queens Dock on Oct 24th.
Certificates to.
Isaac BUTLER, 30 Vickers St, Liverpool for having stopped a runaway horse in Park Lane on Sept 30th.
Richard STEVENSON, 49 Park Lane West, Netherton Dock gateman, and Thomas CLARE, 19 Weldon St, Liverpool for having rescued a man from the Gladstone Dock on Oct 20th.
PC, 157, Joseph Gordon JONES, Liverpool Police Force and John READLE, 54 Greenleaf St, Liverpool for having stopped a runaway horse attached to a lorry in Belmont Rd on Oct 26th.
John HART, The Cottage, Breck Rd, Wallasey and John HUGHES, 33 Quigley St, Tranmere, Birkenhead for having rescued a Lascar seaman from the West Float, Birkenhead on Oct 30th.
Copyright 2002 / To date