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Auction: 8010 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 117

A Great War ´French Theatre´ O.B.E. Group of Six to Squadron Leader J.P.C. Sewell, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, attached French Air Force as a Liaison Officer, and as an Observer in a French Aircraft Assisted in Shooting Down a German Fokker, 28.4.1916 a) The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 1st type, Military Division, Officer´s (O.B.E.) breast Badge, silver-gilt (Hallmarks for London 1919) b) 1914-15 Star (2.Lieut. J.P.C. Sewell. R.F.C.) c) British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oakleaves (Major J.P.C. Sewell. R.A.F.), naming slightly rubbed on last d) France, Third Republic, Legion of Honour, Chevalier´s breast Badge, 55mm including wreath suspension x 40mm, silver-gilt and enamel, with minor white and blue enamel damage e) France, Third Republic, Croix de Guerre, avec Palmes, reverse dated 1914-1916, very fine, mounted court-style for wear, with framed photograph of recipient with 12 Squadron in 1916, a copy of Flying and Soldiering by R.R. Money, in which the recipient is mentioned, and a photocopy of the original French Recommendation for the award of the recipient´s Croix de Guerre Estimate £ 600-800 O.B.E. London Gazette 3.6.1919 Maj. John Percy Claude Sewell. (France). M.I.D. London Gazette 20.5.1918 Sewell, Capt. (T./Maj.) J.P.C. (S.R.) France, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour London Gazette 4.4.1919 Major John Percy Claude Sewell. Squadron Leader John Percy Claude Sewell, O.B.E., educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; commissioned Second Lieutenant Royal Flying Corps, 21.4.1915; appointed Flying Officer 23.8.1915; served during the Great War with 12 Squadron in the French Theatre of War from September 1915; Flight Commander "A" Flight 12 Squadron and Temporary Captain December 1915; he flew mainly in patrols, including 12.2.1916 when the Squadron Record Book gives Sewell as piloting a B.E. 2c, ´´Pursuit of hostile aircraft´´; attached to the French Air Force as a Liaison Officer, and it was in this capacity that he is mentioned in Flying and Soldiering by R.R. Money, ´´I found them [12 Squadron] at Avesnes le Comte, but sadly altered in personnel, even after only three months´´ interval. Dear old J.C. Halahan was still in command, but Sewell had left "A" Flight and gone down the line to act as a liasion officer we had provided. He won golden opinions from the French, and their delight was great when he went up with one of their pilots and shot down, or helped to shoot down, a Hun. They gave him a Croix de Guerre. After the War I happened to be in Paris on way back from the South of France, and went to see Sir Norman Leslie, our Air Attache in Paris, to ask if he could get me flown back to England. Leslie was out, they said - would I see Squadron Leader Sewell? And there I found J.C. Sewell again, with a broad grin all over his face. Needless to say, I got my trip back to England all right. Later on Sewell became Air Attache in propria persona. And now he is dead.´´; the incident with with two German Fokker aircraft, occured 28.4.1916; Squadron Commander and Temporary Major 5.2.1917.

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£1,500