A Second World War D.S.M. awarded to Petty Officer Storekeeper N. Gilbert, Merchant Navy, who was decorated for his services aboard the infantry landing and H.Q. ship H.M.S. Hilary

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (P.O. Storekeeper N. Gilbert, NAP/R. 225334), good very fine £500-600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Awards to Merchant Seamen and D.E.M.S. Gunners.

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D.S.M. London Gazette 8 June 1944.

Norman Gilbert, who was born at Wadebridge, Cornwall, in February 1908, was a pre-war merchant sailor who signed on for service in H.M’s Auxiliary War Vessels in January 1941.

His first seagoing appointment in that capacity was as an Assistant Storekeeper aboard the armed merchant cruiser H.M.S. Salopian, a short-lived appointment owing to her loss on 13 May 1941, when she was torpedoed and sunk by the U-98 while escorting convoy SC. 31 about 400 miles S.E. of Cape Farewell - one officer and two ratings were killed, and the survivors were picked up by escorting ships.

Next appointed to the anti-aircraft ship Ulster Queen in July 1941, he remained similarly employed until March 1943, in which period he served on the Arctic run, including the convoys PQ. 15 and PQ. 18. But it was for his services as a Storekeeper aboard H.M.S. Hilary that he was awarded the D.S.M., in which ship he served from June 1943 until early 1945. Converted for use as a combined infantry landing ship and headquarters vessel, equipped with six landing craft and accommodation for 313 crew and 378 soldiers, Hilary was present off Sicily during “Operation Husky” in July 1943, when she landed elements of the 1st Royal Canadian Division, in addition to Royal Marine Commandos. Next present off Italy as part of “Operation Avalanche”, she returned home in time to lend valuable service during the Normandy landings in June 1944, not least off Juno on D-Day itself - she was twice damaged by bombs later in the same month; sold with further information.