Date of birth:

November 12th, 1910 (Quetta, Pakistan)

Date of death:

2006 (United Kingdom)

Nationality:

British

Norman Todd entered Dartmouth Naval College in 1924 and served on the battleship Iron Duke,battlecruiser Tiger, minesweeper Sutton, the sloops Lupin and Deptford, cruisers Norfolk and Ajax.

Norman died in the UK in 2006. He had a stroke in Thailand in 2002 and returned to Paddington, London where he was unable to continue travelling. He was attaché in Karachi and after was attaché in Lisbon before in 1959 he became a tour guide for Thomas Cook. He travelled widely: Libya in 1963, Nepal in the early 70s, Abyssinia - and on retiring, continued to travel widely. He was in Mandalay in 1998. He was there to find the house where his parents had lived until 1917. His mother had returned to Britain but his father, travelling to Uzbekistan and to Bukhara had had to join the British ambassador escaping from the Bolsheviks. This has been described by Peter Hopkirk. When he was attaché at Karachi, he had to go Goa (early 1950s) to negotiate with the governor for a RAF radio station on the Lakshaksweep Islands.

He took 8mm movie film from HMS Norfolk of the sinking of the Bismarck, later donated to the Imperial War Museum and used in a Channel 4 documentary.

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Lieutenant

Unit:

H.M.S. Ajax (22), Royal Navy

Awarded on:

February 23rd, 1940

Citation:
"who carried out navigating duties with the utmost coolness and accuracy throughout the action."

In recognition of the gallant and successful action with the " Admiral Graf Spee."

Norman received the Distinguished Service Cross award for his actions during the Battle of the River Plate. In the Daily Herald of February 23, 1940 he is listed as a recipient of this award.

• - https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34796
  - Obituaries - The Telegraph
  - Ajax Veterans Street Dedication: Todd Road: Ajax Public Library Digital Archive