Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second War 1942 Posthumous Albert Medal for Sea group of four awarded to Stoker First Class G. Bush, Royal Navy, for preventing three of his shipmates from being burned alive, when a pipe burst in the boiler-room of the minesweeper H.M.S. Bagshot

Albert Medal, 2nd Class, for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea, bronze and enamel, reverse officially engraved ‘Awarded by The King to the late Stoker George Bush. H.M.S. Bagshot for Gallantry in saving the lives of three of his shipmates on the 18th of February 1942’; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, very fine or better (4) £5,000-£7,000

A.M. London Gazette 11 August 1942:

‘When a pipe in one of H.M. Ships burst, filling the boiler-room with steam, Stoker Bush and three others took refuge in a bunker. They tried to make those on the upper deck hear them but could not. As the bunker was filling with steam, Stoker Bush made a dash through the boiler-room and up the ladder. He reached the top, gasped out “Three men, port bunker,” and fainted. The bunker plate on the upper deck was at once removed and the three men saved. Stoker Bush died next morning from the shock of his many burns.’

George Robert Bush was born in 1918, and served during the Second World War as a Stoker 1st Class in the minesweeper H.M.S. Bagshot. He died whilst in service on 19 February 1942, the day after performing his gallant act in saving his three crew-mates from being burned alive, and is buried in Alexandria War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.