"On the morning of Thursday, 12th February, 1942, Lieutenant-Commander
Esmonde, in command of a Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm, was told that
the German battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the cruser Prinz Eugen, strongly escorted by some thirty surface
craft, were entering the Straits of Dover, and that his Squadron must
attack before they reached the sand-banks North East of Calais. Lieutenant-Commander Esmonde knew well that his enterprise was
desperate. Soon after noon he and his squadron of six Swordfish set
course for the Enemy, and after ten minutes flight were attacked by a
strong force of enemy fighters. Touch was lost with his fighter escort;
and in the action which followed all his aircraft were damaged. He flew
on, cool and resolute, serenely challenging hopeless odds, to encounter
the deadly fire of the Battle-Cruisers and their Escort, which shattered
the port wing of his aircraft. Undismayed, he led his Squadron on,
straight through this inferno of fire, in steady flight towards their
target. Almost at once he was shot down; but his Squadron went on to
launch a gallant attack, in which at least one torpedo is believed to
have struck the German Battle-Cruisers, and from which not one of the
six aircraft returned.
His high courage and splendid resolution will live in the traditions of
the Royal Navy, and remain for many generations a fine and stirring
memory."
From Lt. Cdr. Esmonde's Victoria Cross citation, awarded on March 3, 1942.
A true honored ally,
Brian & Melonie
Esmode's funeral
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