"Thanks also, ImageGear for taking the time to find the links to the GC / GM, although I had already found the sites you gave me. I'll look further into the WW2 firemen awards."
The main difference of course being that two of them are firemen in the accepted sense, and one was a fireman on a train.
But all well deserved meals. Here is the report of the Ammunition train:-
The London Gazette: 25th July 1944
Citation: "The KING has been graciously pleased to award the GEORGE CROSS to:-
Benjamin Gimbert, Driver (March), London and North Eastern Railway Company.
James William NIGHTALL (deceased), Fireman (March), London and North Eastern Railway Company.
As an ammunition train was pulling into a station in Cambridgeshire, the driver, Gimbert, discovered that the wagon next to the engine was on fire. He immediately drew Nightall’s attention to the fire and brought the train to a standstill. By the time the train had stopped the whole of the truck was enveloped m flames and, realising the danger, the driver instructed the fireman to try to uncouple the truck immediately behind the blazing vehicle. Without the slightest hesitation Nightall, although he knew that the truck contained explosives, uncoupled the vehicle and rejoined his driver on the footplate.
The blazing van was close to the station buildings and was obviously liable to endanger life in the village. The driver and fireman realised that it was essential to separate the truck from the remainder of the train and run it into the open. Driver Gimbert set the engine in motion and as he approached a signal box he warned the signalman to stop any trains which were likely to be involved and indicated what he intended to do. Almost immediately the vehicle blew up. Nightall was killed and Gimbert was very severely injured.
Gimbert and Nightall were fully aware of the contents of the wagon which was on fire and displayed outstanding courage and resource in endeavouring to isolate it. When they discovered that the wagon was on fire they could easily have left the train and sought shelter, but realising that if they did not remove the burning vehicle the whole of the train, which consisted of 51 wagons of explosives, would have blown up, they risked their lives in order to minimise the effect of the fire. There is no doubt that if the whole train bad been involved, as it would have been but for the gallant action of the men concerned, there would have been serious loss of life and property."
Account of Deed: In the early hours of 2nd June 1944, an ammunition train of 51 trucks, filled with unfused bombs destined for the American Air Force bases in East Anglia, was approaching Soham station in Cambridgeshire. Suddenly the driver Benjamin Gimbert saw that the wagon next to the engine, containing forty 500 lb. bombs, was on fire. He at once began to apply the steam brake very gradually, so as not to precipitate an explosion, and sounded two blasts on the engine whistle to give the fire warning to the guard and the signalman. When the train finally came to a halt just outside the station, Fireman Nightall jumped down, ran back to the burning wagon and attacked the coupling with a hammer. Within a minute he had uncoupled the burning truck from the rest of the train and rejoined the driver in the cab. The engine was then urged gently into motion, slowly pulling the burning truck away from the rest of the train. As they approached the signal box and the driver leant out of the cab to shout another warning to the signal- man, the bombs in the blazing wagon exploded. A massive crater some 20 feet deep and 60 feet wide was blown in the middle of the railway track and all the buildings of Soham station and many more were obliterated or badly damaged. The engine lay on its side and beneath it lay the dead body of Fireman Nightall. The signalman later died of his injuries, but the driver, although blown sky-high, was not killed.
Remarks: Benjamin Gimbert and James William Nightall are the only railwaymen to have been awarded the George Cross in the same incident.