Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An extremely well documented Second World War P.O.W’s campaign service pair awarded to Lance-Corporal S. Clayton, South Staffordshire Regiment, who was captured in May 1940 and repatriated in October 1943

1939-45 Star; War Medal 1939-45, in their original addressed card forwarding box, extremely fine (2) £200-250

Samuel Clayton was born in Willenhall, Staffordshire in December 1914 and enlisted in the Territorials in February 1939. Joining the B.E.F. out in France as a member of 1/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment in early April 1940, he was taken P.O.W. in the following month. A local newspaper article takes up he story:

‘A Wildenhall soldier buried his head deeper into the filthy mud as bullets began to fly. Inside the rickety tin shelter the sound of rapid gunfire blocked out every thought. Only the moans of his wounded companions filtered through to break the frightening spell. For Lance-Corporal Sam Clayton, fresh from his peaceful Black Country home, the Second World War had really begun. It was 1940 and 24-years-old Sam had been marching with the 1/6th South Staffordshire Regiment out of the French village of Eecke when the advancing Germans began shelling. Sam’s unit were to keep going towards the beaches of Dunkirk, but Sam stayed behind in a roadside shelter to help a wounded friend. It was there he was captured by an advancing German tank and marched off to begin three years as a prisoner of war in Nazi camps all over Europe ... Sam had been married only four years when he joined the prisoners’ column to begin his 300 mile journey to the German border. And only by risking his life to put a note under a water can at the side of the road could he tell his wife Mary that he was still alive. The note was picked up by a ministering nun and sent to England ... ’

That very note - in its Dutch Red Cross forwarding envelope - forms part of the accompanying archive, as does a hand written letter from Captain James Beattie, dated at the Redcliffe Hotel, Paignton, Devon on 9 June 1940, addressed to Clayton’s wife and reporting on her husband’s probable capture - ‘At Eecke he was with an officer and several others looking after two wounded when a surprise attack by tanks cut this party off from the rest of the Company. We think that they had little chance to fight and our hope is that they were taken prisoner.’

Clayton was subsequently repatriated from Stalag XX1 A at Lamsdorf in Germany in October 1943, suffering from chronic nephritis, and was discharged at Shrewsbury in January 1944 as permanently unfit for any form of military service - conduct ‘Exemplary’.

Sold with mass of original documentation, mainly wartime correspondence between the recipient and his wife, including censored letters and postcards sent from the B.E.F. in April-May 1940 (approximately 10) and during years as a P.O.W. (approximately 150), and accordingly a remarkable and moving record of separated husband and wife; together with correspondence of a happier nature, concerning the recipient’s repatriation, and his Soldier’s Service and Pay Book.