Beschreibung:

I don’t think of myself as a hero. All I wanted was to get on with my job. The ship was my home as well as that of 250 others. I was paid to do it so I thought I had better get on with it. And 8,000 miles is a long way to swim home.” The exceptional and rare Falklands War ‘Battle of Bomb Alley’ D.S.M. group of four awarded to Chief Petty Officer M. D. Townsend, Royal Navy, who, after H.M.S. Argonaut had been hit in a determined Argentine air attack by two 1,000lb bombs, both of which failed to explode, stayed aboard the badly damaged vessel taking charge of an Action Damage Control Team after most of the ships company had been removed for their own safety - one of the acts of gallantry he performed involved him passing over and working within five feet of one of the unexploded bombs and then hanging over the side of the ship during continued enemy air attacks whilst patching up the hole through which the bomb had entered Distinguished Service Medal, E.II.R., 2nd issue (CMEM(M) K984117P); General Service 1962, 2 clasps, Borneo, Northern Ireland (K984117P POMEM, RN); South Atlantic 1982, with rosette (CMEM(M) K984117P HMS Argonaut); Jubilee 1977, some contact wear and edge bruising, nearly very fine and better (4) £50000-60000 Footnote D.S.M. London Gazette 8 October 1982. The published citation states: ‘On 21st May 1982, during intensive enemy air attacks, HMS Argonaut was struck by two bombs which did not explode, one lodging in the boiler room and the second entering the forward magazine through a fuel tank. Chief Marine Engineering Mechanic Townsend re-entered the boiler room to assess the damage and then organised and carried out the patching of a hole in the ship's hull at the water-line measuring four feet in diameter. He worked firstly inboard, passing over and working within five feet of the unexploded bomb, and then hanging over the side of the ship during continuing air attacks and the subsequent tow. He then, without a break, attacked the flooding and damage caused by the second bomb. He directed and personally carried out pumping operations above the magazine containing this unexploded bomb and packed with explosives. He continued to search compartments flooded with diesel fuel for almost 48 hours. Chief Marine Engineering Mechanic Townsend worked with no regard for his own safety. His fearlessness and resolute stamina in helping to overcome severe damage was a major factor in saving the ship.’ Only eleven Distinguished Service Medals were awarded during the Falklands War, with each of the following ships receiving just one award: HMS Antelope, HMS Ardent, HMS Argonaut, HMS Broadsword, HMS Conqueror and HMS Sheffield. The remaining five awards were given to men of 846 Naval Air Squadron (3), Fleet Clearance Diving Team (1) and Royal Marines (1). Additionally one other award was granted to a Royal Marine for the defence of South Georgia. The following is extracted from the book, One Hundred Days: The Memoirs of The Falklands Battle Group Commander, by Admiral Sandy Woodward: ‘21 May 1982: Then it began. An Argentinian light attack two-seater jet aircraft, the Italian built Naval Macchi 339, flying at wave-top height along the northern coast, swung suddenly into the narrow entrance to Falkland Sound, going as fast as he could. The first ship he saw was Kit Layman’s Argonaut and he fired all eight of his five inch rockets at the frigate, coming on in low and raking the decks with 30mm cannon shells. One rocket hit the Seacat missile deck area and injured three men - one of whom lost an eye; another, the Master-at-Arms, took a piece of shrapnel one inch above his heart. The attack had been so swift and sudden that the raider was making his escape away to the south-east before any kind of hardware could be aimed at him. As it was, they had a shot at him with a Blowpipe missile from the deck of Canberra; Intrepid launched a Seacat missile and David Pentreath opened up with 4.5 inch guns of Plymouth. But the Macchi got aw