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Auction: 23113 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 208

The General Service Medal awarded to Major P. S. Newton, Royal Sussex Regiment who was awarded an M.B.E. for his service in Egypt between October 1951 and June 1952

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Canal Zone (Maj P S Newton R Sussex R) good very fine

[M.B.E.] London Gazette 5 June 1952. The Recommendation states:

'Major Newton has been the only DAQMG in this District HQ during the period under review. The problems with which he has had to deal have included in particular the accumulation and maintenance of the very large number of troops that have been brought into the District. During this time there has been an acute shortage of transport and virtually no labour, so that improvisation has been the rule rather than the exception. All this, particularly at a Grade II level, has involved a very great deal of meticulous and detailed hard work. Not only has Major Newton worked tirelessly for very long hours and often until late into the night, but he has also shown that he can make sound and realistic decisions, and he has not hesitated to do so.

Moreover he has taken pains to appreciate each problem from the units' point of view and has been willing to shoulder any amount of extra work and trouble in order to serve them.

In brief he has risen to the occasion in this present emergency and has not only got through a great deal more work than is normally expected of one man, but has also accepted responsibility to a far greater degree than is normally expected from an officer of his rank.'

Philip Stanley Norman was born on 14 August 1920 and was educated at Brighton Grammar School. He entered Sandhurst on 30 January 1939 and joined the Royal Sussex Regiment. He was promoted quickly to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel at the age of 21 and was sent to the Middle East in April 1942.

He took part in the battle at Alam Halfa which started on the 31 August 1942 and later took part in the battle of El Alamein. Newton was then posted to the Middle East Officers' Cadet Training Unit in Acre, Palestine.

In October he volunteered to join Force 133 as a Liaison Officer with the partisans in Greece and did his parachute training at Rarncat David in Palestine. However, the civil war in Greece stopped these missions and he then volunteered to operate in France, being flown to England with four other officers, via Gibraltar in a Sunderland flying boat, in January 1944. However, none of these officers was selected for service with the SOE and he spent five months with 2 SAS Regt. in Scotland, which included a refresher parachute course at Ringway, Manchester.

Brigadier Cyril Lloyd, Deputy Adjutant General 21st Army Group, then made a request, on 27th May, for Newton to become his Staff Captain at Southwick Park, near Portsmouth, which was General Montgomery's Main H.Q.. He embarked for Normandy on 27 July 1944 and served with the HQ as far as Brussels in December, having also beemn attached to H.Q. 43 Div. on the Dutch-German border for a month.

In February 1951 he was re-promoted Major and appointed DAQMG Suez Canal North District in El Ballah, Egypt, and later HQ 3 Inf Bde. Dist. at Ferry Point, Ismalia and was awarded an M.B.E. for his service there. He joined the 1st Bn. of his regiment in Kabrit, Egypt in December and returned to England with them in February 1953. In May 1954 Newton went to Minden in Germany. In January 1955 he returned to London as DAAG in War Office (PA1) and in September/October 1956 took part in the call-up of Army Reservists for the Suez invasion.

In February 1957 he rejoined the 1st Bn in Korea and then saw service in Gibraltar for six months.

In February 1958 he was appointed Commander of the Depo, which he had first joined in 1939 and, in September, was installed as an Officer of the Order of the House of Orange by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, who was Colonel-in-Chief. In April 1960 he disbanded the Depot and took command of the 1st Bn in Northern Ireland and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 6 May 1960. During his time in Northern Ireland he saved one of his soldiers from drowning on the Antrim Coast. He took the Bn. to Shorncliffe in November 1961 and handed over command on 17 September 1962.

On 19 September 1962 he went to Malaya where he spent nearly 1 1/2 years as GSOI (Senior Staff Officer) 17 Gurkha Division Malaya Area, but in January 1964 he founded the HQ 17 Division and took it in May to Labuan, North Borneo, to control forces in the confrontation with Indonesia. He visited South Vietnam as an official observer of the War in 1964 and 1965. He was promoted Colonel on 19 August 1965 and posted to MOD (Army) in Whitehall as Col aS (Combat Development) and remained until October 1968 during which time his international responsibilities took him to the USA., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Newton returned to England in December 1970 and retired on 19 August 1972. He served with the Army Museums Ogilby Trust where he served between 1972-89. He died on 30 September 1998; sold with a Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal in box, silver ashtray, badges etc.

For his Dress miniatures, please see Lot 709.

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Sold for
£220

Starting price
£160