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"Admiralty, Whitehall,
16th August, 1940.
The KING has been graciously
pleased to approve the grant of the
Victoria Cross to Lieutenant Richard
Been Stannard, R.N.R., H.M.S. Arab,
for outstanding valour and signal devotion
to duty at Namsos. When enemy bombing
attacks had set on fire many tons of
hand grenades on Namsos wharf, with
no shore water supply available, Lieutenant
Stannard ran Arab's bows against the
wharf and held her there. Sending all
but two of his crew aft, he then endeavoured
for two hours to extinguish the fire
with hoses from the forecastle. He persisted
in this work till the attempt had to
be given up as hopeless.
After helping other ships
against air attacks, he placed his own
damaged vessel under shelter of a cliff,
landed his crew and those of two other
trawlers, and established an armed camp.
Here those off duty could rest while
he attacked enemy aircraft which approached
by day, and kept anti-submarine watch
during the night.
When another trawler
near-by was hit and set on fire by a
bomb, he, with two others, boarded Arab
and moved her 100 yards before the other
vessel blew up. Finally, when leaving
the fjord, he was attacked by a German
bomber which ordered him to steer East
or be sunk. He held on his course, reserved
his fire till the enemy was within 800
yards, and then brought the aircraft
down.
Throughout a period of
five days Arab was subjected to 31 bombing
attacks and the camp and Lewis gun positions
ashore were repeatedly machine-gunned
and bombed; yet the defensive position
was so well planned that only one man
was wounded.
Lieutenant Stannard ultimately
brought his damaged ship back to an
English port. His continuous gallantry
in the presence of the enemy was magnificent,
and his enterprise and resource not
only caused losses to the Germans but
saved his ship and many lives."
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