A Second World War O.B.E. group of eleven awarded to Chief Engineer G. J. MacLennan, Merchant Navy, late Royal Navy and 14th Battalion London Regiment - awarded for saving life when the S.S. Strathallan was torpedoed, 21 December 1942

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Civil) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; 1914-15 Star (4573 Pte., 14-Lond. R.) British War Medal 1914-20 (Eng. Lt., R.N.); Mercantile Marine War Medal 1914-18 (George J. MacLennan); Victory Medal 1914-19 (Eng. Lt., R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Pacific Star; Defence and War Medals, these unnamed, mounted court style for wear, cleaned, good very fine and better (11) £600-800

O.B.E. London Gazette 11 May 1943. ‘George James MacLennan, Esq., Chief Engineer Officer’.

George James MacLennan was born in Stonehaven on 22 March 1886. He joined the P. & O. Steamship Company in November 1907. With the start of the Great War he served as a Private in the 14th (County of London) Battalion (London Scottish) London Regiment and entered France on 5 July 1915. At other times during the war, he served as an Engineer Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and in the Merchant Navy. Served on the battleship H.M.S. Royal Oak from December 1916; demobilised on 8 June 1919. During the inter war years he served as 2nd Engineer aboard the S.S. Rajputana, August 1932-October 1935.

During the Second World War he served on the liner S.S. Strathallan from September 1939. On 11 December 1942 she departed the Clyde for Algiers carrying 4,408 troops and 248 nurses on board. At about 2.30 on 21 December she was torpedoed by a German submarine some 40 miles north of Oran. Fire broke out in the engine room and spread to the hold which contained ammunition. Six of the crew and some of the passengers were killed; the remainder were taken off. A salvage tug took the stricken ship in tow but early the next day she sank some 12 miles short of Oran.

It was recorded that ‘after the ship was hit, the Chief Engineer Officer (MacLennan) went to the engine room which was flooded with oil and water. With assistance he rescued a fireman who was trapped under the gratings. He then found a large number of men whose exit from one of the lower decks had been blocked by the explosion and led them up on deck via the engine room. But for his courage and resource the loss of life might have been much greater.’

For his services Chief Engineer Officer MacLennan was awarded the O.B.E. and the Lloyd’s Medal for Bravery at Sea (not with lot).

His next ship was the Ile de France in which he served from May 1944 until he went sick in 1945. He retired from the Merchant Navy in March 1946. With copied research.