Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Great War M.M. awarded to Flying Officer A. E. Pitcher, Royal Air Force, late Royal Flying Corps, who was decorated for gallantry as a Wireless Operator on attachment to No. 3 Squadron in 1916

Military Medal, G.V.R. (8192 2 Cl. A.M. A. E. Pitcher, No. 3 Sq. R.F.C.), nearly extremely fine £600-800

M.M. London Gazette 21 December 1916.

Arthur Edwin Pitcher, who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. in October 1895, enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps as a Wireless Operator in September 1915. Posted to No. 3 Squadron out in France in April 1916, he was awarded his M.M ‘for consistent good work under shell fire’ (T.N.A. records refer), and was advanced to Air Mechanic 1st Class in November 1917. Returning to the U.K. in early 1918 for training as an Equipment Officer (Wireless), he was duly commissioned in the newly established Royal Air Force, and served in that capacity until being transferred to the Reserve as a Flying Officer in September 1926.