b. 30/09/1914 Plaistow, London. d. 17/07/1968 Leyton, London.
DATE OF EM ACTION: 26/07/1942 Chatham Dockyard, Kent.
William Charles was born in Plaistow, London on 30th September 1914, the son of Herbert Henry and Harriet Jane Servis (nee Bick). He married Elsie M Foster in Essex in 1938. Little else is known about his life, other than that he died a widower on 17th July 1968 in Leyton, London, aged 53.
EM CITATION:
On the z6th July, 1942, Mr. Servis, together with Mr Edward Evans, a steeplejack, and an apprentice, were at work at the top of a chimney in Chatham Dockyard. Evans stood on a staging inside the chimney while the other two men were on the chimney itself engaged in splitting the stonework, when a piece of stone weighing about one cwt dropped on the staging and caused one of the supporting beams to break. Evans was precipitated down inside the chimney to the bottom, about no feet below Servis thought that there was a possibility that Evans might have fallen on to the accumulated soot at the bottom of the chimney and might still be alive. He descended to the ground and tried to reach Evans through the bottom of the chimney. This, however, proved impossible and, after procuring a boatswain’s chair, he returned to the top of the chimney and lowered himself down inside where, with difficulty, he was able to lash Evans to a board attached to a rope He then pulled himself up and, with assistance, lifted up Evans, placed him in a Neil Robertson stretcher, and lowered him to the ground. On examination, Evans was found to have been killed by the fall The work of rescue took about one hour, and during 35 minutes of this time Servis was inside the chimney where he had to work in the darkness and in a dusty atmosphere He was exposed to heat and there were also fumes, which leaked past the damper Servis was aware of the leakage of fumes as sulphur fumes were noticeable at the top of the chimney He knew the risks, but he promptly faced them in order to rescue his fellow worker, and the careful arrangements he made and the manner in which the rescue was effected showed that he acted with coolness and determination and in no rash and injudicious manner
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
