Background
The son of a miner, Hawkins was born at Llanbaran, in Glamorgan.
The son of a miner, Hawkins was born at Llanbaran, in Glamorgan.
His birth was registered in Bridgend district. Early Educated locally, he left school at 14 and went into the mining industry, playing rugby union for Llanharan Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Bridgend Reconstruction Finance Corporation and Glamorgan County Reconstruction Finance Corporation in his spare time. He joined the navy in 1940, and, after training at HMS Raleigh and HMS Drake, spent nine months on a trawler patrolling the English Channel, before transferring as a seaman gunner to the Dems, with whom he served in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian oceans.
On 10 January 1943 Eynon was a Royal Navy able seaman serving as a gunner aboard the British Tanker Company"s Move Files British Dominion, one of a 14-strong convoy en route to Malta from the West Indies.
About 300 miles southwest of Madeira, the convoy in which Hawkins was serving was attacked. Hit by three torpedoes, the British Dominion caught fire almost immediately.
The blaze was so fierce and the fear of explosion so great that, before the lifeboats could be launched, the order was given for the crew to abandon ship. Many crew members jumped overboard.
In the terrible confusion that followed, Hawkins, with great coolness and courage, managed to gather together a group of about nine men and keep them clear of the burning oil.
He twice swam away from his companions to go to the assistance of other survivors who were in difficulty, encouraging them and swimming back with them to the group. The burning oil was still spreading and, as one of the Royal Navy escorts began to pick up survivors, Hawkins, still helping to pull his companions to safety, was badly burned on the face. He later also received the Lloyds medal for bravery at sea.