Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Ship's Cook

Unit:

M.V. Rangitane, New Zealand Merchant Navy

Awarded on:

October 21st, 1941

Citation:
"The ship was attacked and sunk by enemy surface raiders.
Mrs. Plumb was badly wounded early in the shelling, but she helped and guided her passengers from their quarters to their boat stations and continued to look after them when in the lifeboat.
On board the raider she refused medical attention and made light of her injuries until all the other wounded had been treated.
It was not until the German doctors noticed she was fainting, owing to the loss of blood, that they tended her and found she had been lacerated by shell splinters.
Among the last to leave the ship were Ship's Cook Francis and Deck Mechanic Walker. Francis, at great risk to himself, rescued two women from burning accommodation and took a badly wounded passenger with him to the boat. Walker tended two wounded ship mates under shell-fire and brought .them to a lifeboat. When this capsized, he supported one of the men, who was too badly hurt to wear a life-belt, and got him to safety."