Bravery, selfless action, devotion and inspiration by Royal Navy personnel have all been recognised by one of the Senior Service’s top admirals.

Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Sir James Burnell Nugent invited POMA Richard Orrill, L/Cpl Damian Parsons, Kevin O’Shea and WOPT Duncan Roberts aboard his flagship HMS Victory to present them with commendations as recognition for their deeds.

Two people owe their lives to the actions of PO Orrill and L/Cpl Parsons.

Police officers singled out the medical assistant following an horrific road accident near Wickham, north of Fareham, in April, saying without PO Orrill’s assistance, the death toll would have been higher.

The senior rating was driving home from the Royal Hospital Haslar, in Gosport, when he joined a queue of traffic stopped because of the accident.

He grabbed his first aid kit and, helped by an off-duty firefighter and a Navy officer, managed to rescue a badly-wounded girl by getting her out of a smashed-up Ford Fiesta and ensuring her airway was free, before emergency vehicles arrived on the scene.

Once the casualties had been taken to hospital – one person died in the accident – the petty officer sat with two children from a coach which was at the crash scene and, he says, talked “matelot babble” to calm the shocked youngsters down.

He says his actions were typical of everyone that April evening.

“Anybody, whether they were medically trained or not, got out of their cars to see if they could help,” he said.

“It was fortunate that I and others with first aid training were there. I did my job. The people that could help got on with it. I just wish we could have helped out more.”

The teenager rescued by PO Orrill is slowly recovering at a specialist unit for head injury victims in Bath.

L/Cpl Parsons was commended for his bravery and professionalism after rescuing an unconscious casualty during an Army diving exercise in Scotland.

As a stand-by diver, the 22-year-old Royal Marine was sent to investigate when a student diver failed to respond to signals at a depth of 40 metres – about 130 feet.

The Royal, normally based at the Defence Diving School at Horsea Island in Portsmouth Harbour, carried out life-saving drills before swimming with the casualty to the surface and, say observers, completed a difficult and dangerous rescue few divers could have achieved.

Mr O’Shea is a former sailor, with 23 years service, who now works for the Flagship training organisation in HMS Sultan’s Unit Personnel Office (UPO).

He is the driving force behind the Gosport establishment’s annual summer show and firework night and his energy and enthusiasm has largely been responsible for visitor numbers – and hence proceeds to charities – doubling in the past two years.

WO Roberts, based at the Tal-y-bont outdoor leadership training centre in Wales, collected his commendation for his voluntary work with the Royal Navy’s Alpine Championship committee, in particular his determination to ensure all events are properly supported.