A poignant Second War 'Normandy' M.B.E. group of six awarded to Lieutenant Oliver Gray,...

A poignant Second War ‘Normandy’ M.B.E. group of six awarded to Lieutenant Oliver Gray, Royal Army Medical Corps, late Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, for his gallantry in saving the lives of patients aboard the Hospital Ship Amsterdam when sunk off Normandy in August 1944

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type, breast badge, mounted on original investiture brooch; British War and Victory Medals (S.Lt. O. Gray. R.N.V.R.); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45, extremely fine (6) £300-£400

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M.B.E. (Military) London Gazette 29 December 1944.
The original recommendation states: ‘Lieutenant Gray displayed great courage and devotion to duty when Hospital Carrier “Amsterdam” was sunk by enemy action off the coast of Normandy on 7th August 1944. He was in charge of two wards on the lowest deck of the ship and their evacuation required great steadiness. Moreover, one ward, through which the ship broke in two 14 minutes after the explosion was under his charge. He superintended the evacuation of patients and did not leave these wards until all living patients had gone. The ship capsized and sank while this officer was standing on her horizontal starboard side in the endeavour to rescue a nursing officer through a port hole of the lower deck in which she had been trapped.’

Oliver Gray was born in 1899 in Glasgow and was educated at Bootham School, York, in 1911-16; appointed Temporary Surgeon Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.V.R., 8 May 1916; Regular Army Emergency Commission as Lieutenant, R.A.M.C., 1 April 1944; W.S. Captain, 1 April 1945. Doctor Oliver Gray, M.B.E., was for many years a Physician in Haslemere, Surrey and died on 28 January 1964, aged 64.

His obituary states:
‘Dr. Oliver Gray who was at Bootham from 1911 to 1916 will be remembered by many for he was at one time a frequent visitor to the School; he was a brother of Donald Gray. For many years working in general practice at Haslemere, in Surrey, Oliver Gray won great distinction for his work on otology, the study of ears, and developed new techniques for the preparation of specimens to demonstrate the workings of the ear; his samples are exhibited widely in this country and abroad. In 1944 he was appointed M.B.E. 'for courage and devotion to duty in carrying out hazardous work in a very brave manner'; this refers to his action when a hospital ship he was serving on was torpedoed and sank returning from the Normandy landings. Oliver Gray was a man who filled his life full with worthwhile interests, natural history, painting, photography, and in his earlier years sport; as well as his medical work, since 1948 he served as a Justice of the Peace for Surrey. Dr. P. D. Abbatt (1913-16), writing for the Lancet, gives this appreciation:

‘Those who knew Oliver Gray only in his last years can have little conception of him in the vigour of his athletic early days. All games came easily to him and he was an outstanding Rugby full back, swimmer and high diver. His abiding love of the West Highlands and his wide variety of interests were implanted and fostered by his father and mother and their large family holidays contained a magic which stayed with him all his life. Always an idealist, and a perfectionist, he chose general practice in a remote Scottish town instead of specialising, because he thought it represented the best form of medical practice. Later he settled in the south, partly in response to the appeals of his friends and relations who were not seeing enough of him. Here he found time for writing articles, painting, music and reading. He was greatly influenced by his father, Dr. Albert Gray (1880-82), an ear, nose and throat specialist, who had devoted much of his life to research into the labyrinth of animals, and had produced a notable work on the subject. After the second war, Olive Gray took up this work, and with the new materials available perfected a method of dissecting out and preserving the membranous labyrinth, and obtained a remarkable series of specimens from fish and mammals. He published papers on the anatomical variations that he found, and his work was exhibited at various otological conferences, where its originality was much appreciated. He read widely; history, Shakespeare, Scott and Stevenson always coming at the top of the list. My affection and admiration were not, however, governed by his accomplishments or achievements, but were based on his qualities as a man. Of these a sterling honesty was the most outstanding, and from this followed a dislike of hypocrisy, humbug and the meretricious. His honesty was quite uncompromising and like John Bright 'He did not trim his sails to every passing breeze.' If I have given an impression of a traditional dour Scot, I must correct it, because his sense of the incongruous was so strong that much of our time together was spent in ribaldry... His wit was of the dry unexpected variety that is neither savage or unkind. Nature he loved in all its aspects, and he was never happier than when discussing the strange paths of evolution and heredity. No doubt the new generation has much to give, but the thoughtfulness, kindness and integrity of men like Oliver Gray is not easily replaced.’