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There followed the usual plethora of media activity and official awards that often accompany such events. In April 1944, Commander Wright got a bar to his DSC (a second DSC) for 'operations in the Aegean', having been Mentioned in Despatches in the New Years Honours list in January 1944, and Lt Hugh Middleton also got a DSC. More importantly, the badly injured Charlie Russell got a George Medal for his work in rescuing 38 of his shipmates with the whaler. Captain Toumbas was awarded the Golden Medal for Valour, Chryson Aristeeon Andreeas, the Greek equivalent of the VC, and Lieutenant-Commander Constantine Arapis, the Engineer and Damage Control Officer, the Greek War Cross. RN officers aboard ADRIAS did well; Lt Harold Walkinshaw, the British Naval Liaison Officer (BNLO), in command of ADRIAS' six British Signalmen, got the Greek Medal for Outstanding Acts, and her splendidly-named Surgeon Lieutenant Vivian Osmond Brook Gartside RNVR, the Medical Officer, got a well-deserved (Greek) Distinguished Service Medal from King George of Greece, who also awarded the Greek War Cross (3rd class) to Lt Maurice Mountstephens RNVR, the skipper of MGB 647, one of the three Motor Gun Boats involved in the affair. Commander Wright and Captain Toumbas were already close friends, and their post-war careers blossomed. Toumbas in particular, was regarded as something of a National hero for bringing ADRIAS home. Like Wright, he also eventually made Admiral, and on retirement in 1955, moved into politics. He was Foreign Minister of Greece in 1966 and died in 1995. Wright avoided party politics, but continued successfully up the greasy pole of Naval promotion, firstly with an appointment to RN Staff College, Greenwich, and eventually retired as an Admiral, with a knighthood, and the position of Second Sea Lord. Meanwhile, in October 1945, Captain Toumbas was instrumental in setting up a memorial plaque to the events of that night at the main Greek naval base at Salamis, bearing the stirring inscription. http://www.hmshurworth.co.uk/AfterHurworth.htm |