Orders, Decorations and Medals

Four: Lieutenant M. T. Davies, 2/7th Cavalry Independent Commando, Australian Army, late 2/26th Battalion and 2/6th Independent Commando Company: having escaped from Malaya in mid-February 1942, he served as a Commando Intelligence Officer in the New Guinea and beyond

1939-45 Star; Pacific Star; War Medal 1939-45; Australia Service Medal 1939-45, the last two officially inscribed ‘QX. 1923 M. T. Davies’, extremely fine (4) £300-350

Maurice Taite “Maurie” Davies was born at Charters Towers, Queensland in September 1910 and enlisted in the Australian Army at Townsville in June 1940. Posted to the 2/26th Battalion, he was advanced to Sergeant and embarked for Singapore in August 1941, from whence he participated in operations against the advancing Japanese near Johore in January 1942, until making his escape from Malaya in the middle of the following month. Commissioned as a Lieutenant in February 1943, Davies was embarked for New Guinea that July, this time as an Intelligence Officer with 2/6th Independent Commando Company, and was present in operations in Bena Bena, Markham and Ramu, where he gained a glowing reputation for the standard of his work - members of his section accompanied patrols.

Returning to Australia at the end of the year, in order to attend an Intelligence Course, he was again embarked for active service with 2/7th Cavalry Independent Commando in early July 1945, when he participated in the Balikpapan landings. Davies was discharged to the Reserve of Officers in November 1945 and was finally placed on the Retired List in June 1954 - official records further reveal that he did not claim his 1939-45 awards until 1961, no doubt the reason for his unnamed campaign Stars.