Six: Sergeant P. Joyce, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, later Hampshire Regiment and Dorsetshire Regiment

1939-45 Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, 1st Army; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Army L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 2nd issue, Regular Army (5437174 Sgt. J. P. Joyce. Dorset.) mounted as worn, good very fine (6) £80-£100

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the 46th Foot and its Successor Units.

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John Patrick Joyce was born in Athlone, County Meath, Ireland, on 23 November 1915. Enlisting at Armagh for the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry on 11 February 1937, he completed basic training but was soon posted as a deserter from the 2nd Battalion on 8 January 1938. During this period he went on to marry Constance Catherine Walsh in Dublin on 12 January 1941, and the couple had a daughter together. Taken into close arrest on 9 December 1941, he was later tried by General Court Martial on a charge of Deserting his Majesty’s Service; found not guilty of desertion but guilty of absence without leave, he was duly committed to the cells for 12 months, the sentence being quashed just weeks later by order General Officer Commanding 4th Division.

Detached to No. 88 Anti-Tank Battery, Royal Artillery, at Castle Douglas on 5 June 1942, Joyce later embarked with SS Orion at Glasgow for North Africa with the 2nd Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Landing on 23 March 1943, his unit witnessed action at The Bowl, The Basin, Peter’s Corner, Banana Ridge, Pt. 133 and Cape Bon in the advance towards and subsequent capture of Tunis. Transferred to the Hampshire Regiment on 1 October 1943, Joyce served with the 5th Battalion in Italy and later, Austria. He joined the Dorset Regiment on 5 February 1946 and witnessed further overseas service in Hong Kong in 1953, being awarded the LSGC Medal per Army Order 37 of 1958. Discharged 23 January 1963, he died in Birmingham in 1984.

Sold with the recipient’s Regular Army Certificate of Service which notes his Military Conduct as ‘Exemplary’ and bears testimony to the respect afforded him, adding: ‘his integrity is beyond question’; a fine photograph album detailing his time in Egypt whilst on leave from Italy, notably alongside his pals beneath the Pyramids (1944), approx. 30 images; Pocket Bible - hand annotated to inner front cover - and published Regimental Journals (3); the recipient’s miniature medals for Second War service, mounted as worn, riband bars (5), and a small assortment of fabric shoulder titles.