Personal info
- Name: Abdus-Samad Abdul-Wahid GOLANDAZ
- D.O.A: 16th Sep, 1933
- Award: George Cross
- Occupation at time of action: Landlord, property owner and sand contractor
- Book: The Complete History - Volume 3
Surat, India 16 September 1933
16 September 1933
BETWEEN THE WARS 1919–39
Surat lies on the south bank of the Tapti River, about fourteen miles inland from the Gulf of Khambhat, and on the railway line north from Bombay to Baroda. Until the development of Bombay, Surat was the most important port of western India
Citation
The KING has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of His Majesty’s Birthday, to approve of the Award of the Medal of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire to the undermentioned:– For Gallantry. Abdus Samad Abdul Wahid Golandaz, Landlord, Property-owner and Sand Contractor, Bombay. Mr. Golandaz owns a fleet of boats and trained boatmen which he places at the disposal of the authorities whenever Surat, Rander or the surrounding districts are threatened by floods, and on frequent occasions he has risked his own life in leading his men to works of rescue. He has shown conspicuous personal bravery on several occasions. In particular on the 16th of September, 1933, when the Tapti River had swollen to such proportions that one of the sluices in the city wall had been damaged and water was pouring in through it, threatening to flood the city, he volunteered to dive into the flooded river and ascertain the nature and extent of the damage. He accomplished this brave feat successfully and blocked the sluice with sandbags at considerable risk to his own life. In 1930 he had also performed an act of conspicuous bravery in rescuing the boys of the Government High School and the family of the Excise Inspector, whose bungalows had been cut off by the floods