Chaplain The Rev. HERBERT CECIL PUGH

The London Gazette of 1st April, 1947, gives the following particulars: The Revd. H. C. Pugh was on board H. M. T. Anslem, bound for West Africa, when the ship was torpedoed in the Atlantic in the early hours of 5th July, 1941. Coming up on deck he seemed to be everywhere at once, doing his best to comfort the injured, helping with the boats, rafts, and visiting different lower sections where men were quartered, When he learned that a number of injured airmen were trapped in the hold which had been damaged by the torpedo, which distroyed the normal means of escape, he insisted on being lowered in by a rope. Everyone demurred, as the hold was below the water-line, the decks were already awash, and to go down was to go to certain death. He simply explained that he must be where his men were. The hold now was so full of water that when he knelt to pray, the water reached his shoulders. Within a few minutes the ship plunged and sank and Mr. Pugh was never seen again. He had every opportunity of saving his own life but, without regard for his own safety and in the best tradition of the Service and of a Christian minister, he gave up his life for others.