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Auction: 25112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 509

Three: Stoker Petty Officer W. H. Salt, Royal Navy

1939-1945 Star; Pacific Star, clasp, Burma; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R. (KX.79215 W. H. Salt. H.M.N.Z.S. Gambia.), good very fine (3)

William Henry Salt was born at Kings Norton, Birmingham on 7 August 1906 and was a chocolate maker by trade. He served in the Gambia from 25 September 1943-22 December 1994. Gambia was ordered under the 1938 Naval Programme and was one of seven cruisers planned for this class. This was a new cruiser design for the Royal Navy and it met the requirements of the 1936 London Naval Treaty that restricted displacement to 8,000 tons. On 22 September 1943 HMNZS Gambia was commissioned for service with the Royal New Zealand Navy. She was the largest ship to serve her Navy.

The Torpedo Bay Museum gives more detail:

'On 15 August [1945] the ceasefire was announced and during the time that the signal was being received a Japanese aircraft attacked the force, being shot down by a US Navy Corsair, pieces of the aircraft falling on Gambia. The ship also engaged the aircraft, and together with the rounds fired in the bombardment, Gambia has the distinction of firing the last shots of the Second World War. A platoon of Royal Marines and a platoon of seamen landed under the command of Lieutenant-Commander G.R. Davis-Goff DSC, RNZN on 20 August and took the surrender of the Japanese Naval Base at Yokosuka. Some ships of the British Pacific Fleet had anchored in Tokyo Bay on 31 August and on 2 September 1945, the Japanese signed the instrument of surrender on board USS Missouri. Gambia represented the Royal New Zealand Navy at this historic occasion. Gambia assisted in the evacuation of released Prisoners of War from Wakayma to Tokyo in mid September as well undertaking other more mundane duties. The ship sailed from Japan on 11 October, arriving in Auckland on the 30th. After a six week refit Gambia remained at Auckland, non operational, until February 1946.'

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Sold for
£140

Starting price
£50