Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War D.C.M. pair awarded to Sergeant F. A. Morrow, 3rd Worcestershire Regiment

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (14512 Sjt. F. A. Morrow, 3/Worc. R.); British War Medal (2.Lieut. F. A. Morrow) naming re-impressed on the second, contact marks from star, otherwise very fine (2) £600-700

D.C.M. London Gazette 1 January 1917, citation London Gazette 13 February 1917: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He showed great courage and initiative in rallying and leading the men of his own and another unit at a critical time.’

Awarded for the action at the Leipzig Salient during the battle of Thiepval on 7 July 1916. Further details are given in The Worcestershire Regiment in the Great War:

‘One company of the 3rd Worcestershire lost all its officers, killed or disabled; but Sergeant C. Price took command and, although wounded himself, he reorganised and consolidated the position, refusing to leave until the position was secure. At another point, where casualties had been very heavy, all the officers, both Worcestershire and Wiltshire, had fallen. Sergeant F. A. Morrow took command of the leaderless men of both units, held his ground and re-established the position. Attack and counter-attack followed in quick succession and the losses were very heavy; but the troops fought splendidly. “When I got into the Leipzig Salient,” a staff officer wrote of the fighting on July 7th, “I found the place in a most awful state. The enemy’s shelling was tremendous, trenches were obliterated and the rain helped to make what was left of them crumble away; dead, dying and wounded were all over the place. The two companies of the 3rd Worcestershire were only 50 men all told, the Wiltshire had only three officers left, and there seemed no end of the German shells and the consequent casualties.’

Sergeant Morrow was commissioned as Second Lieutenant into the 5th (Reserve) Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, on 25 September 1918.