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Auction: 12002 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 31

A Good Second War 1942 ´Russian Convoy Escort´ D.S.M. Group of Five to Able Seaman H.L. Harris, Royal Navy; Who Was Killed in Action, 23.9.1943, Serving With H.M.S. Itchen, When She Blew-Up After Being Subjected to a Four and Half Day Onslaught By German U-Boats a) Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (J.106084 H.L. Harris. A,B.) b) 1939-1945 Star c) Atlantic Star d) War Medal e) Naval Long Service & G.C., G.V.R., 2nd ´coinage head´ type (J.106084 H.L. Harris. A.B. H.M.S. Leander), generally good very fine (5) Estimate £ 1,200-1,600 D.S.M. London Gazette 11.6.1942 J.106084 H.L. Harris. A.B., R.N. (H.M.S. Tartar) ´For outstanding zeal, patience and cheerfulness and for never failing to set an example of wholehearted devotion to duty, without which the high tradition of the Royal Navy could not have been upheld.´ A family source stated, when the group was originally sold, that the D.S.M. was awarded when the recipient entered a dark and damaged engine room in H.M.S. Tartar, after a German air attack off the coast of Norway whilst heading north with a Russian convoy. J.106084 Able Seaman Harold Lucas Harris, D.S.M., born 1900; joined the Royal Navy, November 1918, not seeing active service until the Second World War; early service included in H.M.S. Tartar (destroyer); intially part of the Home Fleet she also went on to escort Russian Convoys, January-February 1942; Harris was killed in action, 23.9.1943, whilst serving in H.M.S. Itchen (frigate), whilst escorting an Atlantic westbound convoy along with the corvettes Polyanthus, Morden and the Canadian destroyer Ste. Croix; Harris is commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial. Provenance: Spink, April 1993

Sold for
£1,400