Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: First Radio Operator J. N. Duncan, who lost his life on the occasion the M.V. Oakbank was torpedoed and sunk off Brazil in December 1942

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Pacific Star; War Medal 1939-45, in their original addressed card forwarding box, together with Buckingham Palace letter of condolence, with official typed inscription to reverse, ‘John Nicol Duncan, M.V. Oakbank’, extremely fine (4) £80-100

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Awards to Merchant Seamen and D.E.M.S. Gunners.

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John Nicol Duncan, who was born at Kilmacolm in January 1910, was serving as First Radio Officer of the M.V. Oakbank when she was torpedoed and sunk by the U-507 200 miles off Fortaleza, Brazil on 27 December 1942. Of her crew of 63 men, 28 lost their lives, among them Duncan, while the Master and an Apprentice were taken prisoner aboard the U-Boat. It is interesting to note, however, that in a subsequent report sent to the Admiralty, via Lieutenant-Commander C. H. Hughes, R.N.R., who interviewed the survivors, that ‘the usual SOS signals were transmitted’ after the first torpedo strike, suggesting that Duncan remained - and died - at his post. Aged 32 years, he was the son of David and Margaret Duncan of Port Glasgow, and is commemorated on the Merchant Navy Memorial at Tower Hill, London; sold with research.