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Auction: 21003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 408

Three: Bandsman W. E. Wilson, Norfolk Regiment, who was taken prisoner at Dunkirk but was lucky to escape the fate of 97 of his comrades who were massacred by fanatical S.S. troops at Le Paradis, Pas-de-Calais

1939-45 Star; War Medal 1939-45; Army L.S. & G.C., Regular Army, G.VI.R. (5769719 Pte. W. E. Wilson. R. Norfolk.), mounted as worn, good very fine (3)

W.E. Wilson served with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment as a Bandsman during the Fall of France. The Battalion's resistance at the La Bassee Canal earned a terrible retribution when the surviving 97 men surrendered to the Germans on 27 May 1940. They were taken into an open field and deliberately gunned-down by S.S. troops - only two men survived the horrific incident. Their commander was Polar explorer Major Lisle Ryder, brother of Captain Robert Edward Dudley Ryder, who won the Victoria Cross during the St Nazaire Raid (The Medals of the Ryder Brothers were exhibited at Spink during our 200 Years of Polar Exploration exhibition in November 2019).

Whilst the bulk of the battalion was killed, some had escaped the encirclement and many of these were evacuated - Wilson however was taken prisoner on 27 June 1940. He was repatriated on 5 November 1943; sold together with copied newspaper articles relating to the massacre, casualty lists and extracts relating to the Royal Norfolk Regiment.

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Sold for
£250

Starting price
£110