The night of August 22, 1940, George Leach was at home… it was nearing midnight when he heard the bombers overhead, then a deafening explosion. George Keen1, George Leach and those gathered to help, including members of the Fire Services, Home Guard, soldiers attached to a unit nearby and British Red Cross Society (BRCS) volunteer nurses placed themselves in great danger averting a certain catastrophe, preventing untold damage, reportedly saving the lives of those in nearby homes.

On 15 November 1940 the London Gazette announced that George Frederick William Keen and George Henry Leach were to be awarded the George Medal, stating: 'Both men acted quite regardless of their own safety and at very considerable personal risk.' George Keen and George Leach were as a matter of fact the very first working for the railway to be awarded the George Medal.