Four: Sergeant R. M. Badger, Royal Air Force, who was killed in action over Italy in a Wellington of No. 104 Squadron in November 1944

1939-45 Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, in their original Air Ministry forwarding box addressed to ‘M. S. Badger, Esq., “Lyndhurst”, 4, Queen Alexandra Rd., North Shields, Northumberland’, together with his Air Council condolence slip in the name of ‘Sergeant R. M. Badger’, and medal issuance slip confirming the above entitlement, and a wartime portrait photograph, good very fine or better (4) £150-200

Reginald Milburn Badger commenced his operational career in No. 104 Squadron, a Wellington unit operating out of Foggia, Italy, in October 1944. Accompanying copied extracts from the unit’s Operations Record Book list him as having participated in several operations in the period leading up to his death in action, including two or three parachute supply missions. And it was on a similar mission, on the night of 10-11 November 1944 - a supply drop in the north-east of Italy - that his Wellington failed to return.

The son of Mark Smith Badger of North Shields, Northumberland, Badger was 21 years of age and is commemorated on the Malta Memorial. The remains of two of his crew, the pilot, Flying Officer Jack Pickles, and the bomb aimer, Flying Officer Herbert Waite, were recovered and interred in Bari War Memorial.