Orders, Decorations and Medals

Africa Star (31564 L. P. Batham); Italy Star (329084 D. Lowe); Africa Service Medal 1939-45 (142636 F. Neethling), all officially inscribed South African issues, good very fine and better (3) £40-60

Lawrence Percival Batham was born in Johannesburg in April 1922 and enlisted in the Union Defence Force in April 1940. Posted to the 1st Imperial Light Horse, he was embarked for the Middle East and was killed in action on 31 December 1941. He is buried in the Halfaya Sollum War Cemetery, Egypt.

Denis Lowe was born in Louwsburg, Natal in March 1924 and enlisted in the South African Air Force in November 1941. He subsequently served in No. 3 Squadron in North Africa and Italy, October 1943 to May 1945, and was discharged in September of the latter year, his service record noting, ‘Log Book checked, flying suspended.’

Francois Neethling was born in June 1919 and enlisted in the Union Defence Force in February 1940. Posted to the 1st South African (Irish) Infantry, he was embarked for East Africa in March 1941, and thence for the Middle East, where he was wounded and taken P.O.W. in November 1941. Subsequently incarcerated in Campo 65 and Campo 129 in Italy, he was liberated in June 1944 and discharged in December 1946.