Bill Mason - George Medal (1941)
Oct 19, 2013 9:17:36 GMT
Post by shred on Oct 19, 2013 9:17:36 GMT
Published 11th September 1941
FIVE HOURS WITH INFLAMMABLE OIL AND TIME BOMB
LONDON.—Here's the situation—there are 503 gallons of highly inflammable creosote oil in a storage well. Underneath the oil is a 5001b time-bomb. What's to be done about it?
When this state of affairs was discovered after a raid, Bill Mason volunteered to pump out the oil (and incidentally risk being blown up or burned).
Everybody else was cleared from the danger area in the tar works.
Alone, 42-years-old Bill Mason sat in the steam pump house—-only 12ft away from the well—and kept the pump going.
Slowly the level of the oil sank in the well.
"It got on my nerves a bit during the first hour," says Bill.
HOUR AFTER HOUR
For three hours he pumped. .."I began to kid myself it would never go off."
For five hours he pumped. ..."On the last lap—and I was almost enjoying it."
There was now only a foot of sludge in the well, and the pump would draw no longer. "I was quite disappointed," .says Bill. "The sludge covered the bomb. I did want to see it."
And then Bill "packed up" and walked across the deserted yard and reported: "Oil all safe." Within 25 minutes the bomb went off. The pump-house was demolished.
It is announced that Bill Mason ,of Salford, Lancashire, has been awarded the George Medal.
His two little girls, aged 11 and 7, will be teasing their 19-years-old soldier brother that Daddy is the first to get a medal.
"Which is funny, because Bill Mason served two years in the last war—in France, Italy, and Egypt. And he has had to wait until he is a civilian again to win one.
FIVE HOURS WITH INFLAMMABLE OIL AND TIME BOMB
LONDON.—Here's the situation—there are 503 gallons of highly inflammable creosote oil in a storage well. Underneath the oil is a 5001b time-bomb. What's to be done about it?
When this state of affairs was discovered after a raid, Bill Mason volunteered to pump out the oil (and incidentally risk being blown up or burned).
Everybody else was cleared from the danger area in the tar works.
Alone, 42-years-old Bill Mason sat in the steam pump house—-only 12ft away from the well—and kept the pump going.
Slowly the level of the oil sank in the well.
"It got on my nerves a bit during the first hour," says Bill.
HOUR AFTER HOUR
For three hours he pumped. .."I began to kid myself it would never go off."
For five hours he pumped. ..."On the last lap—and I was almost enjoying it."
There was now only a foot of sludge in the well, and the pump would draw no longer. "I was quite disappointed," .says Bill. "The sludge covered the bomb. I did want to see it."
And then Bill "packed up" and walked across the deserted yard and reported: "Oil all safe." Within 25 minutes the bomb went off. The pump-house was demolished.
It is announced that Bill Mason ,of Salford, Lancashire, has been awarded the George Medal.
His two little girls, aged 11 and 7, will be teasing their 19-years-old soldier brother that Daddy is the first to get a medal.
"Which is funny, because Bill Mason served two years in the last war—in France, Italy, and Egypt. And he has had to wait until he is a civilian again to win one.