The Falmouth born widow of a World War Two seaman dubbed the ‘Hero of Swanvale’ has died in Seattle aged 98.

Nellie Bishop, nee Retchford, was the wife of American Bosun’s Mate Phillip Bishop, who was honoured by King George VI and American President Franklin Roosevelt for his brave actions following a bombing raid on oil tanks in Swanvale in May 1944.

The Falmouth Packet reported that after the attack, which split the tanks and sparked an inferno which was pouring towards houses in the area, chief bosun’s mate Bishop commandeered a bulldozer and, “defying the intense heat generated by the blazing tanks,” built an earth dam to block the fuel as it poured downhill.

He was awarded the British Empire Medal for his brave actions, as well as the American Navy and Marine Corps Medal.

Mrs Bishop met her future husband while working for Freeman’s Granite Yard in Penryn, and the couple married at Penryn Methodist Church in 1944, before moving to Seattle at the end of the war.

Returning to Falmouth after her husband’s death, during which time she was a guest of honour at a civic reception as part of the D-Day anniversary celebrations, she was interviewed by the Packet.

She said: “We were living at Albany Road at the time of the raid, and it was the first air raid my husband had experienced.

“As soon as the all-clear came, he went out and that was all I knew of the incident until the following day.

“Soon after he left with his unit for the D-Day operation.”

Mrs Bishop’s nephew David Retchford, of Falmouth, said she had “died peacefully” on Saturday, February 21.