A Leading Stoker Nicholas Swords, young six-foot Irishman who lived at Rushden before he joined the Navy, has received a certificate expressing the King’s high appreciation of his services, which have also been acknowledged in the “London Gazette.”
It was during an incident in the Mediterranean that Leading Stoker Swords won his mention, but his whole career in the Navy – which he joined before the war – had been eventful. He was on one of the escort vessels when King George and Queen Elizabeth visited America, his ship brought the King and Queen of Norway to England – an exciting episode – and he helped in the evacuation of Crete.
 Leading Stoker Nicholas is 25 and unmarried, and has belonged to Rushden since he was 16, when the family came from Ireland. Until joining the Navy he worked in the Park-place Making Department of Messrs. John White, Ltd., and Mr. White speaks of his as “an exceptionally good fellow, full of ambition and vim.”
The mother, who resides in Bedford-road, Rushden, has good reason to be proud of her family. Two more of her sons, Patrick and John, are in the Navy, and another, George, serves in the R.A.F. A daughter, Elsie, is in the W.A.A.F., and another, Jose, awaits admission to the A.T.S. A young son, Peter (employed by Messrs. John White) is a keen member of the A.T.C.
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