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	Gallantry		Gallantry

	William Alexander Morrison
	Edward Medal, First Class
	Date:	20 Jun 1916
	Colliery:	Roslin Explosives Factory
	Occupation:

 

Whitehall, 22 December, 1916.

His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to award the Edward Medal ...

Also, the Edward Medal of the First Class to William Alexander Morrison and the Edward Medal of the Second Class to George Sang and Archibald Young under the following circumstances:—

On the 20th June, 1916, a small explosion occurred at 10 a.m. in a building at the Roslin Explosives Factory. Morrison and Sang, who were aware that four girls were in the building, which had caught fire, and that the building was full of explosives, at once ran towards it. As they approached two of the girls came out and fell unconscious on the grass. The building was now blazing furiously; but Morrison and Sang, who knew the position of the explosives within, used the fire buckets so as to allay the flames in the dangerous quarter, and to enable Morrison to dash in. He groped through the smoke, which was dense white, found one girl and passed her out to Young, who had arrived meanwhile; he then returned for the second girl, and eventually brought her out, while Young placed the first girl on a bogey, which he thrust along the line out of danger, and then returned for the second. Sang meanwhile kept the fire down as far as possible with water buckets.

During the whole of this time small explosions were continually taking place within the building, and immediately after the second rescue a heavy explosion occurred, which flattened down part of it. Twelve minutes after the orginal explosion the whole building blew up.

Source: London Gazette (29 Dec 1916)

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