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Apprentice Donald Owen Clarke (5 March 1923 – 9 August 1942) of the Merchant Navy was posthumously awarded the George Cross for his heroism on 8 August 1942. Sailing alone, his motor tanker, the San Emiliano, was torpedoed and sunk by U.155 in the central Atlantic, south east of Trinidad. The ship was engulfed in flames but despite being so badly burned that he died the next day of his wounds, he helped save other severely burned victims by rowing a lifeboat clear of the stricken tanker. He rowed the lifeboat, the only one to survive the sinking, for two hours despite his hands being so badly burned they had to be cut away from the oars as his flesh had stuck to them. Lying at the bottom of the boat, as they waited for rescue, he sang to keep up the spirits of the other men.
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| Born |
5 March 1923 Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham
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| Died |
8 September 1942 (aged 19) off Trinidad, Caribbean
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