A B.E.M. group of eight awarded to Chief Petty Officer L. C. Mills, Royal Navy, who as Gunnery Instructor trained the Devonport Field Gun Team which set a new record at the Royal Tournament in 1953

British Empire Medal, (Military) E.II.R. (C.P.O. Leonard C. Mills, D/JX.137768); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 2nd issue (JX.137768 L. C. Mills. P.O. H.M.S. Drake) slight contact marks and edge bruise to last, otherwise very fine and better (8) £300-£400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The James Fox Collection of Naval Awards.

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B.E.M. London Gazette 1 January 1959.

Leonard Charles Mills was born in 1917 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy seaman prior to the Second World War. He served during the War in H.M.S. Rodney, and was advanced Petty Officer in 1942 and Chief Petty Officer in 1952. A specialist in Gunnery, as Gunnery Instructor he trained the Devonport Field Gun Team which set a new record at the Royal Tournament in 1953. He was presented to the Queen aboard H.M.S. Eagle at Malta on 5 May 1954, at the end of the Royal Tour. Awarded the B.E.M. in the News Years Honours of 1959, he retired from the Royal Navy in 1962. Known as ‘Mr. Field Gun’, in the words of Commander J. M. B. Walkey, O.B.E., R.N., ‘he was the best Chief Petty Officer that I have met in 37 years in the Navy, completely loyal, utterly trustworthy (except occasionally on paynights), and the younger seamen almost worshipped the ground he trod on.’ (letter included with lot refers).

Sold together with Buckingham Palace enclosure for the B.E.M.; letter of congratulations from the City of Plymouth, dated 2 January 1959; card commemorating his presentation to the Queen in May 1954; letter, mounted on card, from the Prime Minister just prior to his retirement, dated 30 August 1962, and signed ‘Harold Macmillan’; and a photograph of the Devonport Field Gun’s Crew of 1953 featuring the recipient as Instructor.