DAY 1 of Christmas Extravaganza Four-Day Sale
Lot 52:
A Mention in Despatches award for Dunkirk in a long service group of five medals to an officer of the Royal Corps of Signals. Consisting of: 1939-45 Star, Burma Star,
Defence Medal and War Medal 1939-1945, with oak leaves emblem for MiD, and Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (Military) (GVIR second type), this named to: Capt A Blanchard R Signals. Arthur Blanchard was born in Horbury, Wakefield, Yorks on 08/11/1906. He enlisted
in the Royal Corps of Signals on 11/10/1926 and served in India and China (Tientsin Signal Section) before joining 4th Divisional Signals and embarking for France with
the BEF on 18/09/1939. As a Sergeant, he was evacuated from the Dunkirk beaches on 03/06/1940. He was mentioned in Despatches in the London Gazette
dated 25/07/1940 for distinguished service “in connection with recent operations”.
He was appointed to an emergency commission on 01/08/1941 as a WS Lieutenant and promoted to Captain on 17/01/1942 and Acting Major on 02/06/1944. He served with the 11th East African Divisional Signals during the campaign in 1944-45 to liberate Burma from the Japanese occupation. The Division was composed of troops
from Kenya, Uganda, Nyasaland, Tanganyika, Southern and Northern Rhodesia and from the Belgian Congo and fought with the Fourteenth Army during the Burma
campaign. In the latter part of 1944 the division pursued the Japanese retreating from Imphal and established bridgeheads over the Chindwin River. In 1945,
elements of the division played a part in the Battle of Meiktila and Mandalay. Arthur Blanchard was released from the Army on 06/12/1945 and granted the
Honorary Rank of Major. He became a Civil Servant and worked for many years in the Commonwealth Relations Office in King Charles St. He was awarded his LSGC
in 1958, following a change in regulations which permitted an officer to receive the medal on completion of the requisite service, provided he had a minimum of twelve
years’ other rank service. He died in Bromley in 1976 at the age of sixty-nine. With a copy of the London Gazette entry confirming the award of the MiD and
manuscript summary of service record. The medals mounted on a brooch bar for wear. Good Very Fine (GVF) condition.
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Cadmore Auctions
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Potters Bar,
Hertfordshire
EN6 1TL
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