HEROIC WORK

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 199, 20 May 1941, Page 7

HEROIC WORK

Decorations For Brave Rescue Operations

Magnificent examples of the gallau i try being shown day and night by men and women serving in the ranks ol ' Britain’s Civil Defence Army were reI counted in the London Gazette when : further awards of George Medals were ; announced recently. They were for I acts of bravery in all parts of the conntr - v - i Three men in Eastbourne were i -among those to volunteer for rescue I work when an unexploded high-explos-i ive bomb was known to be among the ! ruins of three houses in which a numi tier of people were trapped. They help- ' ed to penetrate the wall of a cellar, through a matchboard refrigerator lined witli cork and then through another 12in. concrete wall. This work ! was done in dangerous conditions, in ‘ a very confined space, and as a result ! three of the persons trapped were re- , scued. Though overcome by cold, gas i and water in the cellar, two of the men ! returned later and gave strenuous ! aid in releasing a young girl. This j courageous action was carried out in : appalling conditions. Devotion to Duty. A doctor in the Royal Chest Lios- | pital, London, the assistant-matron and I a nurse wore among the recipients ol | (he medal. A bomb largely demolished I the in-patient block of the hospital, ! covering the patients and stall with l debris. The Idas! had tilled erery pail i of the building with thick dust, so that ; it was dillicnlt to breathe. The doctor, though badly cut. did not leave the hospital for the treatment of Ids own , wounds till every injured person had ' been treated and removed. The assist-ant-matron was badly ent ami injured by falling debris, but she refused to i leave and continued to help in the I removal of injured patients and staff, i Finally she went through the ruins. | supported by a police constable, to '■ ensure there was no possibility of anybody being left behind. The staff nurse in charge of the men's ward, which was within -Oft. of where the heavy bomb struck the bos pital. immediately took steps to pacify I her patients. An air raid casualty ' admitted the previous night, who had

lose live members of his family, attempted in the mental strain of the explosion to throw himself into the street from'the tottering ward floor, from which the walls had been blasted. The nurse rescued him and took him to safety. Though herself cut about the face, she rescued an injured patient from a bed over which a heavy windoxxframe and debris had fallen, and. balancing him around her shoulders, she carried him down tlie stairs over masses of debris. Next she took steps personally to collect dangerous drugs and put them in a safe pace. Iler condition then was such that she had to be taken to hospital. A few days afterward she was moved to another hospital. The same night this hospital was heavily bombed and a live started in a ward. Though the floor of the ward in which she was a patient xvasstrexx'n xvitli broken glass, the nurse unhesitatingly jumped out of bed and. in her bare feet, assisted in taking other patients to safely. STERLING PAYMENTS TO CENTRAL AMERICA •British Official Wireless.) i Received May 19. 7 p.m. • RUGBY, May 18. Payments to the 12 Central American countries and States will henceforth bo made in sterling to accounts entitled “Central American Accounts.” the Treasury announces. This com prises Costa Rica. Cuba, the l.'ominicaii Republic, Ecuador. Guatemala. Haiti. Honduras. Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama (excluding the Canal Zom-i. Salvador and Venezuela.

Suelr accounts will only be available for payments to tlie sterling area ex cept that payments may be made freely from one such Central Ameri can account lo another. All exports to these countries must be paid for iu sterling from a Central American account in dollars or registered sterling. His Majesty the King lias approved the appointment of Mr. 'l'. M. Snow to be His Majesty's Envoy Extra ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiur.. to Bogota, Colombia, iu succession : Mr. B. T. Paske-Smitb, who has beei. obliged by ill-health to relinquish tb>post.