A rare pre-war Palestine operations M.B.E. group of five awarded to Captain H. J. C. Thomas, Lincolnshire Regiment

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type breast badge, in its Royal Mint case of issue; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine (2nd Lieut. H. J. C. Thomans, Linc. R.), in its named card box of issue; 1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf, in their original addressed card forwarding box, extremely fine (5) £600-800

M.B.E. London Gazette 11 May 1937.

Hugh Jestyn Charles Thomas, who was born in December 1912, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Lincolnshire Regiment in January 1935, having served in the ranks for three years. Having then served on garrison duty in Malta, he was embarked with the 2nd Battalion for Haifa, Palestine, in July 1936, owing to the emergency situation occasioned by a general strike.

And in the period July-December 1936, the Battalion was heavily engaged in anti-sabotage, convoy and demolition duties, in addition to establishing permanent piquets - in the course of which employment its men came under fire on numerous occasions, suffering losses in both killed and wounded, not least in such hotspots as “Windy Corner” on the Tulkarm-Nablus Road; so, too, in more regular engagements, such as the actions at Bala and Jaba in September, and at Kfar Sur and Meithalun in October.

Regimental records state that Thomas was among six men decorated ‘for devotion to duty and gallant conduct in the Field in Palestine in the period July to October 1936’, the other awards comprising one M.C., one D.C.M. and three M.Ms. He was also mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 23 July 1937 refers).

Advanced to Lieutenant in January 1938, he saw further action in the Middle East in the 1939-45 War, and was again mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 23 December 1941), but not, it would appear, in a theatre of war that qualified for the Africa Star.