Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: attributed to Captain F. R. J. Nicholls, Royal Artillery, No. 7 Commando, ‘Layforce’ and No. 1 Special Service Detachment, killed in action, Burma, 11 May 1942

1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Burma Star; War Medal, M.I.D. oak leaf, all unnamed, mounted for wear, good very fine (4)
£120-160

M.I.D. London Gazette 28 October 1942.

Frank Raymond Jocelyn Nicholls was born in the Strait Settlements, Malaya on 2 December 1916. He passed out of the Royal Military Academy and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of Artillery in January 1937. Shortly before the war he was A.D.C. to Sir Harry Luke, Governor of the Fiji Islands, but on its outbreak he requested a return to regimental duty.

Returning to England in 1940 he volunteered to join the Special Service Detachment for service in Finland against the Russians; then after this unit was disbanded he volunteered for the newly formed Commandos. With them he entered Egypt in 1941. With No. 7 Commando he took part in the sea raid on Bardia, 19-20 April 1941, which successfully blew up enemy coastal guns. In May 1941, No. 7 Commando was renamed “A” Battalion ‘Layforce’ and took part in the rearguard actions across Crete, covering the escape port of Splakia. On 28 May 1941, towards the end of the fighting, Nicholls gallantly led a bayonet charge against a German paratroop unit holding a hilltop position. By his superb leadership and encouragement, he and his men dislodged the enemy from the hill. This was deemed to be the first occasion Commandos had used the bayonet in action. On his return to Egypt, he temporarily commanded “A” Battalion ‘Layforce’, until they were disbanded (with “B” Battalion) owing to the high casualty rate of 80% sustained in Crete.

He then volunteered for special service with the Chinese Army. The unit was known as ‘Mission 204’ and was trained to act as guerillas with the Chinese Army then at war with Japan. When Japan declared war against Britain, the unit became a regular part of the Chinese 6th Army. Captain Nicholls was serving with this Middle East Contingent (No.1 Special Service Detachment) of the Chinese Army, when he was killed in action in the Shan States, Burma on 11 May 1942, aged 25 years. He was killed by a bomb dropped by a Japanese ‘hedge-hopping’ biplane. His name is commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial.

With baptismal card; school certificate (damaged); commission document appointing him 2nd Lieutenant, January 1937; Soldiers Service and Pay Book; certificate for crossing the equator, 24 September 1939; postcard with a message of condolence; M.I.D. certificate; Buckingham Palace condolence slip mounted on card; a typed copy of Nicholls last letter to his mother; Order of Service in Remembrance of Captain Nicholls; photograph album - containing photos of Nicholls as a baby; other photographs of Nicholls as a boy (4); photograph of the recipient in uniform; reprinted extract from The Gunner, July 1951 bearing tributes to and a photo of Captain Nicholls; and some copied research. All contained in a folder.