Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas (Part I)

The posthumous Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at Sea awarded to 18 year old Radio Officer M. R. Gerard, Merchant Navy, whose ship fell victim to the U-Boat Ace Gunther Prien of Royal Oak fame: Gerard refused to leave his post, transmitting S.O.S. signals to the end, in company with his 16 year old assistant

Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at Sea (Radio Officer M. R. Gerard, S.S. “Empire Toucan”, 29th June 1940) in its fitted case of issue, with M.I.D. oak leaf for King’s Commendation, extremely fine, the inside lid of the case of issue with ink inscription to white silk lining £2,000-£2,400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Naval Medals from the Collection of the Late Jason Pilalas.

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Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at Sea Lloyd’s List and Shipping Gazette 13 May 1941:

‘The ship, which was unarmed, was attacked by shellfire from an enemy submarine, and the crew were told to take to the boats. Although ordered by the master and the first mate to leave the ship, the radio operator and his assistant refused to do so and continued to send out the S.O.S. The boats were just clear when the submarine, which had now surfaced, fired a torpedo which sank the ship, and the two radio officers went down doing their duty. The others were saved.’

King’s Commendation (Posthumous) London Gazette 4 February 1941.

Max Reginald Gerard, who was born in London in June 1922, originally joined the Merchant Navy as a Radio Operator in the course of 1938, with an appointment in the Aquitania. The advent of hostilities saw him serving in a similar capacity in the S.S. Justitia, following which, in June 1940, he joined the Empire Toucan. As related above, she was shelled and torpedoed by the U-47 on the 29th of the same month, when sailing off the coast of Portugal.

Reference to the final moments of the gallant Gerard, and his assistant, Campbell, may be found in a contemporary newspaper report, “Radio Boys Died - Saved 31”:

‘Two boy radio operators gave their lives to save their crew of the cargo steamer Empire Toucan, sunk by a U-Boat in the Atlantic. “We are just trying to make sure our S.O.S. is being heard. Give our love to the boys,” said one of them, Max Gerard, aged eighteen, of London, to an officer who told them the ship was being abandoned. “We will be seeing you soon - we hope,” added Gerard. He and his sixteen year old junior operator, named Campbell, of Blackburn - went down with the ship as a U-Boat shell hit the radio cabin. But their message was picked up by a ship which rescued their thirty-one mates. They were landed in England yesterday. An officer told the Daily Mirror: “I was the last to see Gerard and Campbell alive. They were sitting calmly in their cabin smoking cigarettes as I ran past the door. I shouted that the order had been given to abandon the ship but Gerard just smiled and said: “We are just trying to make sure we are being heard.” I had only just got into the lifeboat when the submarine fired another shell and that must have killed them both.” ’

Interestingly, U-47’s commander was Kapitain Gunther Prien, who in the previous October had sunk the Royal Oak at Scapa Flow. On that occasion, not surprisingly, the Nazi U-Boat ace fled the scene of his success as quickly as possible, but, as made clear by Empire Toucan’s Master’s report, he was under no such pressure on 29 June 1940:

‘All this time the submarine was in sight, just cruising from the starboard quarter to the port quarter across the stern. She came over to my lifeboat and asked me the name of my ship. As he had no doubt been able to ascertain that fact for himself already, having never at any time been any great distance away from us, I told him. He asked if everybody was all right and I told him that two were missing, at that time not knowing there was a third. He also enquired if there were any injured and I told him no. He did not enquire how we were provisioned, and offered us nothing in the way of supplies ...’

Sold with one or two wartime photographs and the newspaper cutting reporting on the loss of the Empire Toucan and her two gallant ‘Radio Boys’.