British and World Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private D. I. Haines, 7th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force

1914-15 Star (3343 Pte., 7/Bn. A.I.F.); British War and Victory Medals (3343 Pte., 7 Bn. A.I.F.), good very fine (3)
£150-200

David Isaac Haines, a labourer from St. Kilda, Victoria, enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915. Embarked with the 7th Battalion in H.M.A.T. Nestor in early October 1915, he presumably witnessed active service in Gallipoli prior to his unit’s evacuation from the peninsula that December - a very distinguished unit, too, four of its men having been awarded V.Cs for the fighting at Lone Pine back in August. Having then been stationed in Egypt, the Battalion was embarked for France, and first went into action in May 1916, followed by heavy fighting on the Somme in July-August. In fact by the War’s end, after seeing further action at Passchendaele and Ypres, and in the bitter fighting of 1918, the 7th had sustained total wartime losses of 1045 killed and another 2075 wounded; also see Lot 847 for his brother’s awards.