Auction Catalogue

1 December 2004

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 180

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1 December 2004

Hammer Price:
£580

Six: Chief Petty Officer S. Bennion, Royal Navy

Naval General Service 1915-62
, 1 clasp, Palestine 1936-1939 (J. 102723 P.O., R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (J. 102723 P.O., H.M.S. Gallant), extremely fine (6) £300-350

Samuel Bennion was mentioned in despatches for his services aboard the destroyer H.M.S. Grenade during the evacuation of Dunkirk on 29 May 1940 (Seedie’s and London Gazette 16 August 1940 refer).

Bombed and set on fire, the Grenade drifted across the harbour, grounded and blew up. When subsequently asked by his skipper to furnish a formal account of the day’s proceedings, one of the Grenade’s Midshipmen wrote: ‘Dear Sir, There was a bloody great bang. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient Servant’. Fortuitously for posterity’s sake, a fellow officer, Lieutenant-Commander E. C. Peake, later left a more informative account:

‘The morning of 29 May was beautiful, warm, with brilliant sunshine, and a flat, calm sea. On the way over, there was heavy enemy air activity. And ample evidence of their success. Wreckage, corpses. I shall never forget a red-headed woman who floated face-down. Her handbag was beside her, right on station. We arrived at Dunkirk during the forenoon and berthed at the landward end of the pier, so that other small ships such as trawlers could berth astern of us. We expected to load and get back to England as soon as possible. But for some unknown reason whilst other ships filled up with troops we were kept empty. There was a rumour that the evacuation was to be called off, and that we were being kept to take off the General Staff. We remained alongside all the afternoon whilst other ships came and went. There was intense air activity the whole time, particularly from dive bombers ... The general level of noise was incredible - not only from gunfire and explosions but from hundreds of stray dogs which had been driven to the water-front. They were a pathetic sight. All of them were terrified. We suffered a few casualties on board during the afternoon, but no damage to the ship. At about 4 p.m. Stukas made a most determined attack on us and we were hit by a stick of bombs simultaneously. Two hit aft and one went straight down the foremost funnel, not touching the funnel casing and burst in Number One Boiler. I cannot remember where the fourth hit. Number One Boiler was directly below the bridge, and its bursting caused havoc on the bridge. Onlookers ashore told me afterwards that all went up about twelve to fifteen feet. I can assure anyone that being blown up is comparatively painless. It’s the coming down that hurts! As a result of the bombs, the ship was badly on fire and the engines out of action. I went round the ship to estimate the extent of the damage and reported to the captain that in my opinion, we should abandon and then cut her adrift. There was a strong tide running under the pier, and she would drift away from the pier. he agreed ... We abandoned ship and cut her adrift and, as I knew she would, she drifted to the other side of the harbour, grounded and eventually blew up ... Altogether, aboard Grenade, we had nineteen men killed and an unknown number wounded ...’

The original recommendation for Bennion’s mention in despatches states that he ‘ably backed Mr. Crew, displaying marked initiative and coolness’, the latter being the ship’s Schoolmaster, who in turn was recommended for ‘rescuing ratings in distress in the oil covered water, landing with a party of survivors in Dunkirk’, where he ‘took charge and eventually navigated an old motor boat back to England.’

Bennion, a native of Boston, Lincolnshire, had entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in June 1921, and was awarded his Naval General Service 1915-62 Medal for services off Palestine in another destroyer, the Gallant, aboard which ship he was also awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in January 1939. He was advanced to Temporary Commissioned Boatswain in March 1944.