Captain (then Chief Officer) George Preston Stronach GC (14 April 1912 – 12 December 1999) of the Merchant navy was awarded the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...

for the heroism he displayed in a rescue at sea in

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Harbour on 19 March 1943. Notice of his award appeared in the

London Gazette London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 23 November 1943.

19 March 1943

On 19 March 1943, Captain Duncan MacKellar's merchant vessel, the SS ''Ocean Voyager'', while in

Harbour was attacked by

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aircraft equipped with

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FFF torpedoes. The ship's large consignment of petrol and ammunition caught fire. As the captain had died in the attack, Stronach took command of the stricken vessel after being briefly knocked out by the explosions. He sought and found surviving crew members and led them to a lifeboat, then lowered another boat to search for more survivors. He doused himself with water from a hose to protect himself as best he could from the flames engulfing the ship, climbed into the wrecked accommodation quarters and rescued a badly burned deck officer. He returned yet again to rescue another man, dragging him through a porthole, along the deck and lowering him over the side to safety. Ordering a crewman to take the boat and injured men to safety he once again returned to the ship where he discovered another injured officer amidships and lowered him to a rescue raft which had managed to get alongside in answer to his calls for assistance. He finally saved yet another crew member, lying unconscious in the scuppers, before abandoning ship. In all he spent an hour and twenty minutes scouring the doomed vessel for survivors in the full knowledge that it could explode at any moment.

George Cross citation

Notice of Stronach's George Cross appeared in the ''

'' on 23 November 1943:National Archives: citation transcript
/ref> These awards are held onboard

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, berthed on the

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in London.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stronach, George Preston British recipients of the George Cross British Merchant Navy personnel of World War II British Merchant Navy officers 1912 births 1999 deaths