Orders, Decorations and Medals

A Second World War M.B.E. group of seven awarded to Regimental Sergeant-Major H. T. Wright, Royal Military Police, late Coldstream Guards

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type badge, silver; 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf; Meritorious Service Medal, E.II.R., 2nd issue (6780671 W.O. Cl. 1, M.B.E., R.M.P.); Army L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 2nd issue, Regular Army (6780671 W.O. Cl.1, M.B.E., R.M.P.) lacquered, good very fine (7) £400-460

M.B.E. London Gazette 20 September 1945. Recommendation states: ‘During the Italian Campaign from Cassino to the Po Valley, this W.O. has been an inspiration to the remainder of the Company. On one occasion he came on the scene of a burning lorry, which was endangering all the vehicles stopped in the vicinity. Without thought for his own safety, he jumped into the lorry and drove it off the road out of danger of the other vehicles.

Although necessitating long hours of duty, his work in connection with the control of traffic on the mountain roads has been an example of his powers of organisation within the unit. His quick grasp of the difficult problems enabled him to deal immediately with the many situations produced by the severe winter weather.

The personal example shown by R.S.M. Wright has been an inspiration to all ranks of the Corps Provost Company’.

M.I.D. London Gazette 11 January 1945 (Italy).

H. T. “Shiner” Wright joined the Coldstream Guards in 1932. After three years as a Guardsman he transferred to the Military Foot Police, doing his training at Mytchett. After nine months with the Aldershot Company he was posted to Hong Kong, where he served from 1935 to 1939. Returning to England a few months before the outbreak of war, he served in the London District Provost Company. Wright went to France with the B.E.F. in 1940 and was in the evacuation. After serving with 110 and 200 Provost Companies in the United Kingdom, he was posted to North Africa in 1943 and thence to Sicily and Italy, serving with 181 and 112 Provost Companies. For his services in the Italian Campaign, he was mentioned in despatches and awarded the M.B.E. Postwar he served in Greece and Germany, and then in 1952 he returned to Hong Kong. He later served in the London District Provost Company.

Sold with a copy of The History of the Corps of Royal Military Police, by Major S. F. Crozier, M.B.E., Gale & Polden, 1951, xvi, 224pp.; together with three photographs of the recipient, a cloth badge and an extract providing service details.