Orders, Decorations and Medals

The outstanding ‘Li Wo’ incident D.S.O. awarded to Temporary Sub-Lieutenant R. G. G. Staunton, Royal Naval Reserve, who became a Japanese prisoner of war after the incredible action which resulted in the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross to his skipper, Lieutenant Thomas Wilkinson, R.N.R.

Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R., the reverse undated as issued at a Special Investiture at Hong Kong on 30 December 1947, in its D.S. & S. case of issue, extremely fine £4000-5000

See Colour Plate I

D.S.O. London Gazette 17 December 1946.

‘Temporary Sub-Lieutenant Ronald George Gladstone Stanton, Royal Naval Reserve, who was First Lieutenant of H.M.S. Li Wo and her only surviving officer. Upon Sub-Lieutenant Stanton devolved the organisation of the ship; and in her final action he served as a member of the volunteer 4-inch gun crew who fought their weapon with steadfast courage in the face of overwhelming odds.’

Robert George Gladstone Stanton was an officer of the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company. He joined H.M.S. Li Wo, a vessel of the 2nd Division 51st Anti-Submarine Flotilla, attached to H.M.S. Sultan III Naval Base at Singapore, in early 1940. Apart from a handful of British R.N.R. and R.N.V.R. officers, she was manned by a Malay crew and a few Chinese firemen. Her sole armament was a 4-inch gun, a shortcoming which would become apparent in the coming months, and in particular on 14 February 1942, when Li Wo fought her last gallant action. The very lengthy citation for the posthumous Victoria Cross awarded to her Capatain, Temporary Lieutenant Thomas Wilkinson, states:

‘On 14th February 1942, H.M.S. Li Wo, a patrol vessel of 1,000 tons, formerly a passenger steamer on the Upper Yangtse River, was on passage from Singapore to Batavia. Her ship’s company consisted of eighty-four officers and men, including one civilian; they were mainly survivors from His Majesty’s Ships which had been sunk, and a few from units of the Army and Royal Air Force. Her armament was one 4-inch gun, for which she had only thirteen practise shells, and two machine guns.
Since leaving Singapore the previous day, the ship had beaten off four air attacks, in one of which fifty-two machines took part, and had suffered considerable damage. Late in the afternoon, she sighted two enemy convoys, the larger of which was escorted by Japanese naval units, including a heavy cruiser and some destroyers. The Commanding Officer, Lieutenant T. Wilkinson, R.N.R., gathered his scratch ship’s company together and told them that, rather than try to escape, he had decided to fight to the last, in the hope that he might inflict damage upon the enemy. In making this decision, which drew resolute support from the whole ship’s company, Lieutenant Wilkinson knew that his ship faced certain destruction, and that his own chances of survival were small.
H.M.S. Li Wo hoisted her battle ensign and made straight for the enemy. In the action which followed, the machine guns were used with effect upon the crews of all ships in range, and a volunteer gun’s crew manned the 4-inch gun, which they fought with such purpose that a Japanese transport was badly hit and set on fire.
After a little over an hour, H.M.S. Li Wo had been critically damaged and was sinking. Lieutenant Wilkinson then decided to ram his principal target, the large transport, which had been abandoned by her crew. It is known that this ship burnt fiercely throughout the night following the action, and was probably sunk.
H.M.S. Li Wo’s gallant fight ended when, her shells spent, and under heavy fire from the enemy cruiser, Lieutenant Wilkinson finally ordered abandon ship. He himself remained on board, and went down with her. There were only about ten survivors, who were later made prisoners of war.
Lieutenant Wilkinson’s valour was equalled only by the skill with which he fought his ship. The Victoria Cross is bestowed upon him posthumously in recognition both of his own heroism and self-sacrifice, and of all who fought and died with him.’

In addition to Wilkinson’s V.C. and Stanton’s D.S.O., the C.G.M. was awarded to Leading Seaman A. W. Thompson, the D.S.M. to Leading Seaman W. Spenser and Able Seaman A. Spendlove, and two officers and four rating were mentioned in despatches. They were the last awards announced for the Second World War.

Ronald Staunton was held prisoner of war at the Japanese P.O.W. Camp at Palembang, Sumatra, from March 1942 until September 1945. He was released from Naval service in March 1946 and subsequently returned to the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company as Chief Officer and Master of their vessels. Peacetime was not without incident as illustrated by Staunton’s report of detention and piracy whilst Master of the S.S. Wingsang on 11th February 1952, sold with the lot.

Both the story of the sinking of the Li Wo and the days following here demise, when Stanton led a handful of survivors in an effort to evade the enemy, are graphically retold in his typewritten 41pp. memoir which accompanies the lot. This extensive account provides a fascinating narrative with considerable commentary on fellow crew members, in addition to the shocking experiences which were encountered during and after that fateful day in February 1942. With its controversial commentary on the action, the vivid descriptions of his, and others’ wounds and fates, and the horrifying accounts of Japanese brutality - they bombarded and machine-gunned the ship’s survivors - Staunton’s account provides an important chapter in the story of the disaster which befell the British forces in the Far East in 1941-42.

The lot is also sold with a number of documents which encompass his years as a P.O.W., among them a letter which confirms that Stanton sustained a machine-gun bullet wound to the head, ‘resulting in a 3 inch long laceration of the scalp ... and suspected linear fracture of the skull’ (Medical Report by Surgeon Lieut. J. Corcoran, B Camp Hospital, P.O.W. Camp Palembang, Sumatra, dated 9 August 1942). The remaining archive includes the recipient’s original D.S.O. Warrant, dated 17 December 1946; Admiralty letter notifying him of his D.S.O. award, dated 20 December 1946; assorted letters and telegrams of congratulation; handwritten letter from Staunton to the Admiralty requesting a presentation in Hong Kong, dated 2 September 1947; Government House, Hong Kong Investiture Letter, dated 11 December 1947; two short typed narratives regarding the Li Wo’s last action, one being hand annotated by Commander P. H. S. Reid at Changi P.O.W. Camp, Singapore, 2 September 1945, and mentioning that ‘the gallantry of Lieutenant T. H. Wilkinson should be recognised’; a letter from relatives of Sub-Lieutenant Neal Derbridge, R.N.R.; assorted correspondence to and from the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company; Naval Pay and Identity Book; and a large quantity of related newspaper cuttings.