Warrant Officer Gerald John Gillingham, M.B., C.D.
Medal of Bravery
WO Gerald John Gillingham, 38, organized firefighting activities and by example in dangerous situations, provided morale leadership in coping with fire and damage that resulted from an engine room explosion aboard HMCS Kootenay. HMCS Kootenay, one of seven "Restigouche"-class destroyer-escorts in the Canadian navy, was conducting full-power trials on October 23, 1969, in the western approaches to the English Channel with eight other Canadian ships. At 8:21 in the morning, there was an explosion in the engine room. Intense heat, flame and smoke engulfed the engine room almost immediately and spread to adjacent passageways and to the boiler room. WO Gillingham was off-duty at the time of the explosion but rushed from his mess to the mortar well where a party was being organized to fight the fire and rescue men. He put on a breathing apparatus and made his way into a devastated area immediately above the engine room to shut off the "main stops" at the emergency position. Later, he exposed himself to heat and flame to operate one of the fire hoses being used near the engine room.