Six: Private E. J. Moon, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, who was captured and taken Prisoner of War in 1943

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine (6342885. Pte E. Moon. R.W. Kent. R.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, nearly extremely fine (6) £120-£160

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Small Collection of Medals to the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment.

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Edwin James Moon was born on 7 March 1916 and attested for the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment on 14 March 1934, his home town recorded as Maidstone. Posted to the 2nd Battalion, he served in India, Haifa, Malta and North Africa before being recorded as missing in the Aegean on 16 November 1943. Confirmed as a Prisoner of War ‘in German hands’, he spent over 18 months at Stalag XI-A camp at Altengrabow in Saxony-Anhalt; as home to 60,000 British, Australian, American, French, Belgian, Serb and Russian prisoners, the camp later bore witness to one of the last airborne operations of the Second World War, code named Operation Violet, where six teams of specialist Allied troops under the command of Major Worrall attempted to assure the protection of those within.

Repatriated home to England on 17 May 1945, Moon later sought permission from the military authorities to take employment overseas. He was discharged upon completion of engagement in 1954.

Sold with copied research including the recipient’s Army Service Record.