Orders, Decorations and Medals

The Army Distinguished Service Medal and Silver Star group of five awarded to Major-General Philip Bradley Peyton, 61st Infantry Regiment, 5th Division

Army Distinguished Service Medal, edge officially numbered ‘397’, bronze and enamel; Silver Star, edge officially numbered ‘4055’, reverse inscribed ‘Philip B. Peyton’; Victory Medal 1918, 3 clasps, Defensive Sector, Meuse-Argonne, St. Mihiel, official type 2 medal; France, Third Republic, Legion of Honour, Chevalier’s breast badge, silver, silver-gilt and enamel, blue enamel with some damage and repair; Croix de Guerre 1914-1918, with bronze star on ribbon and with lanyard complete with gilt fitting, generally good very fine (13) £1200-1500

Distinguished Service Medal citation: ‘For exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services. He took command of a regiment which had undergone six days of shell fire and commanded it with such unusual skill as to enable the regiment to capture Aincreville, Bois de Babiemont, Doulcon, and, after crossing the Meuse, to capture Hill 292, Dun-sur-Meuse, Milly-devant-Dun, Lion-devant-Dun, Cote St. Germain, Chateau Charmois, and Mouzey, thereby displaying the highest order of leadership and exhibiting the masterful qualities of a commander’.

Silver Star, cited by Divisional Commander; Cunel and Bois-de-la-Poultiere. Citation: ‘For exceptional devotion to duty, energy and zeal. In the attack on Cunel and the Bois-de-la-Poultiere, 14th October 1918, by his presence, coolness, personal bravery, and excellent example under intense artillery and machine-gun fire, after not only the officers, but also the non-commissioned personnel of his Battalion had been decimated in this particular attack by seventy-five per cent, inspired the members of his command to advance against an enemy strongly fortified in the jungle of underbrush and trenches. He repeatedly disregarded his own safety in making personal reconnaissance ahead of his forces when they were held up by enemy fire’.

Philip Bradley Peyton was born in Nashville, Tennessee on 22 January 1881, son of A. Newman Peyton. He was educated at the Virginia Military Institute and following his graduation in 1901, served as an Instructor in the Institute during 1901-03. During his second year at the Institute, he was a room mate of George C. Marshall - who was later, at various times, Army Chief of Staff, General of the Army, Secretary of State and Secretary of Defence. Peyton was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant of Infantry in 1904 and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1911, Captain in 1916, Temporary Major, August 1917-August 1918 and Major in 1920. Serving in France with the 61st Infantry during the Great War, he was awarded the American Distinguished Service Medal and Silver Star and the French Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre. As Commanding Officer of the 61st Infantry Peyton was decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal by General Pershing on 30 April 1919. Postwar he graduated from the Infantry School in 1925, the Command and General Staff School in 1926, the Army War College in 1931 and Tank School in 1932 - being promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1927, Colonel in 1935, Brigadier-General in 1937 and Major-General in 1941. He served as Commanding Officer, 12th Brigade, 1937-38; Commanding Officer, Hawaiian Separate Coast Artillery Brigade, 1938; Commanding Officer, 21st Brigade, 1939; Commandant of the Army War College, 1939-40; Commanding General, 8th Infantry Division, June-December 1940, and Commanding General I Corps, 1941-42. Following a heart attack, Peyton retired from the Army on 28 February 1942. Residing in Charlottesville, Virginia, he died on 23 June 1949 and was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery. Sold with a riband bar and seven metal uniform badges, a copied photograph of the recipient and copied research.