THE GEORGE MEDAL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21822, 27 November 1940, Page 8

THE GEORGE MEDAL

AWARD TO A GIRL A 19-year-old Caterham A.R.P. warden is the first woman to receive the George Medal. She is Sonia Straw, a secretary by day and first-aid warden at night. She has a jolly smile, a boyish walk (she is a sports enthusiast and holds awards for all-round athletics) and she doesn’t like talking about herself. Miss Straw attended wounded women and children during an air raid at Caterham. Surrey. “Actually, I don’t remember much detail,” she said. “After the bombs had crashed I ran up to a building where I knew there were people. I found a terrible lot of casualties there, and there was no one to help them. So I just set to work. Anyone else would have done the same. Most of them were women and children. Actually, I wasn’t really a fully qualified warden at the time, but I am now.” That didn’t finish her night’s heroism. One of her fellow-wardens supplied the rest of the story. A telephone call came through to the depot asking for news of an elderly woman who had been missing all day from a bomb-shattered street. Miss Straw volunteered to go in search. The street was roped off since there was a time bomb there, but she walked straight into it through the falling masonry to the ruined house where the woman lived. It was collapsing, but Miss Straw went in and explored the rooms until she finally found the woman under a bed. After giving what comfort she could she went out for a stretcher narty who carried the woman to safety.