Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second World War M.B.E. group of seven awarded to Warrant Officer Class J. Redman, Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment, attached No. 1 Commando

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type breast badge; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, 1st Army; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf; Efficiency Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial (5950322 W.O. Cl. 1 J. Redman, Bedfs. & Herts.), generally good very fine (7) £400-500

M.B.E. London Gazette 13 June 1946.

Joseph Redman volunteered for the Commandos in November 1940, when he joined the 1st Battalion, Special Service Brigade. Posted to No. 1 Commando in March 1941, he was present in the landings off Algiers during Operation “Torch” and later still in operations in Burma, not least the action at Hill 170 at Kangan in early January 1945, when his unit, as part of No. 3 Special Service Brigade, proved instrumental in holding the feature against sustained attack - one of his officers, Lieutenant G. A. Knowland, Royal Norfolk Regiment, won a posthumous V.C. on the same occasion.

Redman, who was awarded the M.B.E., died in 1998; sold with the recipient’s original M.B.E. warrant, dated 13 June 1946, folded, and a silver cigarette box with presentation inscription, ‘To R.S.M. J. Redman, M.B.E., from the Officers of 1/5 Commando, Hong Kong, 1947’.