A well-documented group of six awarded to Staff Sergeant S. C. Nicholson, Royal Engineers, who was wounded in North West Europe in 1944, and was Mentioned in Despatches for his services in Singapore

1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, E.II.R., with M.I.D. oak leaf (1878022 S/Sgt. S. C. Nicholson. R.E.); Army L.S. & G.C., E.II.R., 1st issue, Regular Army (1878022 S. Sgt. S. C. Nicholson. R.E.) light contact marks, nearly extremely fine (6) £240-£280

M.I.D. London Gazette 26 October 1954:
‘In recognition of distinguished services in Malaya during the period 1st January to 30th June 1954.’

Stan C. Nicholson was born in St. John’s Wood, London, to a serving soldier in the Royal Horse Artillery, and spent the early years of his childhood growing up in India. Returning to the U.K., he was educated at Maldon Grammar School, Essex, before attesting as an apprentice tradesman as an electrician in the Royal Engineers in 1939. He served during the Second War in North West Europe, taking part in the Normandy Invasion, and was subsequently wounded:
‘We were all loaded onto assault landing craft, and away we went. If anyone tells you they were not scared, you should believe them, because the seas were that rough that I, for one, was far too busy being sick to worry about where we were going...
Late in November 1944 I received a small shrapnel wound to my left wrist whilst riding a motor cycle. I finished up hitting a tree and breaking my arm, so I was sent to a military hospital in Brussels, and from there, as few days later, I was flown back to England. This was a real stroke of luck for me as my unit soon pressed ahead to Neijmeigen and took a hammering.’ (extract from the recipient’s autobiography refers).

Returning to India after the cessation of hostilities, Nicholson spent the next two years in the East, before returning home following Indian Independence. He saw further peace-time service in Kenya and Somalia, before proceeding to Singapore (then part of Malaya) in 1952. Employed in maintaining the military electrical and water-supply, for his services in Singapore he was awarded a Commander-in-Chief’s Commendation on 30 October 1953, and was Mentioned in Despatches the following year.

After further periods of service with B.A.O.R. in Germany, Nicholson resigned from the Army, and was subsequently employed by a multi-national Electrical Cable manufacturer. He later emigrated to Australia.

Sold with a copy of the recipient’s privately compiled autobiography, entitled ‘The Decline of an Empire’, approximately 100pp, with photographs.