Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A good Second World War D.F.M. group of five awarded to Flight Sergeant G. Rust, Royal Air Force, a two-tour Air Gunner who flew in Lancasters of 156 (P.F.F.) and 622 Squadrons

Distinguished Flying Medal, G.VI.R. (1800867 F./Sgt. G. Rust, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, good very fine and better (5) £1400-1600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to the Coldstream Guards, R.F.C., R.N.A.S. and R.A.F. formed by the late Tom Baugh.

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D.F.M. London Gazette 27 March 1945. The original recommendation states:

‘After having completed a successful first tour of 30 operations with No. 156 Squadron, this N.C.O. arrived in this squadron in September 1944. He has been employed as a spare Gunner during his second tour and has been called upon to operate with various crews and frequently against heavily defended enemy targets. By completing 20 sorties during the short time he has been with this squadron, and by showing the utmost enthusiasm and disregard for personal danger, Flight Sergeant Rust has proved himself to be an outstanding member of any crew with whom he was ordered to fly. This sustained operational endeavour of 50 sorties is indeed worthy of recognition and cannot be over stressed for its outstanding gallantry. I strongly recommend the award of the Distinguished Flying Medal.’

Geoffrey Rust, who was born in August 1923, enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1942 and commenced his first operational tour as an Air Gunner in No. 156 Squadron, a Pathfinder unit, in January 1943. The vast majority of his subsequent sorties - 30 in total - were against German targets, including four trips to Berlin and two trips to Cologne, in addition to three trips to Hamburg during the “firestorm” raids of July-August 1943. He also participated in strikes against other heavily defended targets such as Essen, Mannheim and Munich, and ended his tour in November 1943.

Volunteering for a second tour of operations, Rust joined No. 622 Squadron, another Lancaster unit, operating out of Mildenhall, Suffolk, in September 1944, and subsequently completed another 20 sorties as a spare Air Gunner, flying with a variety of crews, but most regularly with those captained by Australian pilots Flying Officer F. I. Stephens and Flying Officer A. R. Phillips. And all of his targets were of the heavily defended German variety, including Cologne, Dortmund, Duisberg, Essen, Neuss, Saarbrucken and Stuttgart, several of these attacked in daylight raids mounted in November 1944. Recommended for a long overdue D.F.M., he was grounded in the following month.

Sold with the recipient’s original Buckingham Palace forwarding letter.