Francis Haffey Brooke-Smith

Lieutenant-Commander Francis Haffey Brooke-Smith was awarded the George Cross for his heroism in making safe an unexploded mine which fell beside the engine room of the fire float "Firefly" in the Manchester Ship Canal in December 1940 [http://www.ww2awards.com/person/316] .

While defusing the device the fuse clock was tripped and began to tick down to detonation but he stayed with the bomb and managed to deactivate it before it exploded. He was a Sub-Lieutenant at the time, attached to the Royal Naval Reserve's bomb disposal squad. His award was announced in the London Gazette on 27 June 1941. His medal is on display in the Imperial War Museum in London.

He was born on 21 September 1918 in Hasketon, near Woodbridge in Suffolk, where he died on 3 December 1952, aged just 34. He is buried at the Hasketon Churchyard.

References