Orders, Decorations and Medals

A fine Great War M.C. group of four awarded to Captain L. Murphy, Royal Air Force, late Royal Irish Regiment and Royal Flying Corps, who, having won his M.C. for a trench raid in late 1916, served as an Observer, R.F.C. and Pilot, R.A.F., carrying out well over 50 operational sorties

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914 Star, with clasp (918 2/A.M., R.F.C.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt., R.A.F.), good very fine (4) £1200-1500

M.C. London Gazette 21 December 1916:

‘For conspicuous gallantry in action. After the failure of a torpedo, he cut his way through the hostile wire under heavy fire and reached the enemy’s trenches with his party. He set a splendid example to his men.’

Louis Murphy was born in September 1891 and joined the fledgling Royal Flying Corps as a direct entrant in September 1913. Embarked with No. 2 Squadron as an Air Mechanic 2nd Class in mid-August 1914, he subsequently returned home to attend a cadet course and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Irish Regiment in May 1915. Returning to France with a posting to the 2nd Battalion, he won his M.C. in respect of a trench raid carried out at Wytschaete on 29 October 1916, when his unit was supported by one company of the 8th Battalion, Dublin Fusiliers – he was invested with his decoration at Buckingham Palace in November 1919.

Murphy, who was advanced to Captain in late 1916, next transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, and was posted as a Flying Officer (Observer) to No. 18 Squadron in May 1917, with whom he flew assorted line patrols, photographic and dawn reconnaissance missions, a case in point being a “Special Mission” flown on the 9 August 1917:

‘We crossed over the enemy trenches at the appointed time, at a height of about 500 feet. I observed a few enemy trenches about 400 yards back from the front line, which were fairly thickly held, and fired numerous rounds into these. I also observed an active enemy battery and fired about 150 rounds at it. Total number of rounds fired: about 900. Enemy seemed very numerous by the number of lights he was firing – red, green and white. Visibility was bad owing to shell smoke. During the attack at Monchy fired about 800 rounds into trenches. A.A. fire good. Height from 500 feet to 1,000 feet.’

On 25 September 1917, on a photographic reconnaissance, he recorded an indecisive combat with an Albatross 2-seater:

‘Having completed the northern counter battery photographs, we re-crossed the lines and observed an enemy aircraft west of Arras at 18,500 feet. We dived on the enemy aircraft and my pilot opened fire at 100 yards range. The enemy aircraft turned to engage us. I then opened fire at the enemy aircraft which dived for its lines and my pilot continued firing on his tail until we were within 9,000 feet of the ground, just on the enemy’s lines. The enemy aircraft then dived steeply and was seen to land under control at P. 9 Sheet 518 (approximately).’

Murphy eventually returned to the U.K. for pilot training and, in May 1918, on gaining his “Wings”, was posted to No. 102 Squadron, with whom he completed well over 50 bombing sorties before the War’s end – sold with copied list of relevant targets and dates. Having then been placed on the Unemployed List, he was seconded to the Royal Air Force as a Flying Officer for duty in India, where he served in No. 27 Squadron and won entitlement to the India General Service Medal 1908-35 with “Mahsud 1919-20” and “Waziristan 1919-21” clasps. Placed on the Retired List in February 1922, Murphy later changed his forename from Louis to Joseph Aloysius, and served as a Lieutenant in the Loyal Regiment during the 1939-45 War; sold with a file of research.