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Auction: 25112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 560

A well-documented Singapore P.O.W.s campaign group of six awarded to Major (OEO) F. E. Gardner, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, who was commissioned in 1941 only be taken in the Fall of Malaya and forced to work the Burma Railway

1939-1945 Star; Pacific Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953; Army L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., Regular Army (7581561. S.Sjt. F. E. Gardner. R.A.O.C.), sold together with an archive of original documentation, presentation nameplate and two named sporting medals, light contact marks, very fine (6)

Frederick Edwin Gardner was born at Woolwich, Kent on 15 October 1906, the son of Frederick and Ellen Gardner. His father served as a Staff Sergeant in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and this may have contributed to his enlisting on 6 January 1922 as a Boy. It was at this stage that he earned a Second Class Certificate of Education at York in October 1922, tallying with a sporting medal from 'Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School' named to him present with the group.

He served for some time reaching the rank of Staff-Sergeant, after which he was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Gardner was station in Britain at the start of the war but was posted to Malaya at some stage prior to the start of the Japanese offensive. He was commissioned Lieutenant (OEO) on 19 November 1941 the same rank he held when the Japanese rampaged through Malaya from December 1941- February 1942.

Listed as taken Prisoner of war on 15 February 1942, the day the city surrendered, Gardner was initially taken to Changi. There he was one of the men allocated to work on the Burma Railway, being sent to Wang Lan- also named Wanrun and named Wun Ran in his questionnaire. Swiftly moved on to Wan Thu Kieng in December 1942 he was to work there until March the next year before being sent to Takanun.

The camps in this region- numbers 203 and 205- both suffered severely from cholera and other less deadly diseases, particularly during the May-October Monsoon season. Gardner was here from March - December 1943 and doubtless experienced the worst the camp had to offer. Moved on to Chungkai in December 1943 he remained there after it had been converted into a hospital, likely due to the results of his imprisonment.

His final camps were Kanburi in February 1945 and Nakom Nyok in July of that same year, Gardner was liberated in September. In his liberation questionnaire he recorded the attempted escape of Private Fletcher of the R.A.O.C., noting that he managed to escape a work detail at Singapore itself. Upon being recaptured Fletcher was put to work until he fell ill, sent to hospital he was 'removed from hospital & shot for his attempt to escape, together with three other prisoners'.

Gardner remained in the military and was advanced Captain (OEO) on 1 September 1946 and transferred from a short-service to regular army commission in 1949. Further advanced Major (OEO) on 8 March 1952 he joined the Reserve of Officers on 1 November 1959 and was removed as time expired on 15 October 1962. He retired to Plymstock, Plymouth, Devon and died there on 10 January 1991; sold together with copied research including liberation questionnaire and an archive of original material comprising:

i)
Three documents of Commission.

ii)
Certificate of issue for the Coronation 1952 Medal, named to the recipient as a Major.

iii)
2nd Class Certificate of Education named to the recipient in the rank of Boy.

iv)
Official Buckingham Palace repatriation certificate dated September 1945.

v)
R.A.O.C. cricket medal engraved 'I.S.S.C No.2 S.S.1933 Corpl. F. Gardner', 'Archbishop Holgate's Grammer School prize medal engraved 'F. Gardner Obstacle Race Junior 1st'.

vi)
Name plaque 'Presented to Major F. E. Gardner by the Staff of Command Ordnance Depot Coypool on his retirement from the service 1959.

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Sold for
£200

Starting price
£190