Medal of the Order of the British Empire (Civil Division) for Meritorious Service presented to Ordinary Seaman Ronald Nunn (1925-1944). Nunn was one of four survivors of the SS ‘Melbourne Star’, torpedoed in 1943, who spent 39 days adrift on a raft before being rescued. They survived on 22 gallons of water and by catching fish with an improvised hook made from the key of a biscuit tin. Nunn found a Bible and conducted morning and evening prayers each day. The men were finally rescued by a US Catalina flying boat and landed at Bermuda. Nunn and his three companions each received a BEM for ‘outstanding qualities of courage, fortitude and endurance which enabled them to survive the hardship and perils of the long and hazardous ordeal on the raft’. The medal was presented to the Museum with newspaper cuttings, Ronald Nunn’s discharge certificate and the Bible (MS76/166).

Ronald Nunn attended the naval training school at Hesswell aged 13 and a year later in 1939 he sailed in the ‘Durban Castle’ as a deck hand to New Zealand. He lost his life while serving on the SS ‘Dungrange’, 10 June 1944, when German E-boats attacked the Isle of Wight convoy assembly point for Normandy, sinking the cargo ships ‘Ashanti’, ‘Brackenfield’ and ‘Dungrange’.

The medal is made of silver and on the obverse face is Britannia with a trident and shield with the sun above. It is inscribed, ‘FOR GOD AND THE EMPIRE’ and below the design, ‘MERITORIOUS SERVICE’. Inscribed on the reverse of the medal between four lions is the Royal Cypher with a crown above and the legend ‘INSTITUTED BY KING GEORGE V’. Round the edge of the medal is inscribed, ‘RONALD NUNN’. It is suspended by a clasp ornamented with oak leaves and a rose pink ribbon with a grey edge and fitted with a brooch pin. It is kept with its box of issue.

The BEM for Meritorious Service was instituted in December 1922 and was issued to both military and civil personnel. The Military Division is distinguished by a stripe in the centre of the ribbon while the Civil Division is plain in the centre of the ribbon.