Gillian Tanner: Relatives visit London fire boat named after Blitz heroine
The family of a woman who risked her life as a firefighter during the Blitz have stepped aboard the London fire boat named in her honour.Gillian Tanner, known to friends and family as Bobby, signed up to the Auxiliary Fire Service at the age of 19 to help fuel fire engines as bombs rained down on London.Her bravery earned her the George Medal, one of the highest honours for civilian gallantry.Ms Tanner was into "anything with speed and a bit of danger attached," her granddaughter told BBC London.
As well as naming the boat after her in 2022, an LFB leadership training scheme has also borne her name since 2021.During the Second World War, thousands of women joined support services on the home front.Ms Tanner's role was to drive petrol through the burning streets to supply fire engines during some of the most intense bombing London had ever seen.
Patrick Goulbourne, deputy commissioner at London Fire Brigade, said: "During the most difficult times during the war, she was out supplying our fire engine so it could respond to London throughout the war, to make sure that we were able to keep those people [safe] and respond as much as we can.""Her acts of bravery are testament and stand true as some of the values we hold dear today."Members of her family visited the boat and explored her legacy ahead of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) next month.
"I didn't realise the connection and the value people put on her and what she'd done until today," her granddaughter Mandy Jones said.She said her grandmother was a "strong-willed and determined" person who would "get on and do it" when there was work to be done.After the war, Ms Tanner continued with adrenaline inducing activities, including racing cars in Monte Carlo and training racehorses.
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