MODEST HERO

Evening Star, Issue 25776, 26 April 1946, Page 5

MODEST HERO

A V.G. EPISODE •' Shooting a line " is not a strong point of naval personnel, and Lieutenant P. S.W. Roberts, torpedo officer of H.M.S. Black Prince is no exception to the rule. Compared to some other members of the ship's company, his decorations are not numerous, but what they lack in quantity they make up for in quality. He wears only two ribbons —the V.C. and the D.S.C. But to extract the story of how he won the former is like drawing blood from the proverbial stone. It appears, however, that while serving in H.M. Submarine Thresher in the Mediterranean in February, 1942, the vessel was attacked by enemy aircraft after she had sunik a heavily-escorted supply vessel. Evasive action was taken and the submarine escaped, but during the night a bumping was heard on the deck above. An investigation proved this to be caused by two unexploded enemy bombs which had crashed through the gun easing and were rolling about under the narrow casing which covered the Thresher's deck. ■Lieutenant Roberts and Pettyofficer .T. \V. Gould volunteered to remove the bombs. The first was easily dealt with, but the second presented much more danger arid difficulty. In addition to being of an unfamiliar,type it was difficult to reach, entailing a'crawl at full length under the casing and manoeuvring thp bomb for about 20ft in that position before it could "be dropped over the

side. Nor did the twanging of' a broken spring in the fuse do anything to ease the tension. That was the story, but not from the lips of the central figure in it, and one •was left to imagine the severe nervojis tension imposed by the knowledge that the presence of the submarine was known to the enemy and at anv time she might have to crash dive, leaving the two men trapped in the casing, and the difficulty of workina with an unknown type of bomb. When Lieutenant Roberts last heard of Petty-officer Gould he was still serving in submarines. ■ ' ' • ..,■......■•