Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second World War B.E.M. group of seven awarded to Able Seaman William Marshall, Royal Navy, who was decorated for his services aboard the destroyer H.M.S. Maori

British Empire Medal, (Military) G.VI.R., 1st issue (A.B. William Marshall, D/J. 82586, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (J. 89586 W. Marshall, Ord. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue (J. 89586 W. Marshall, A.B., H.M.S. Eagle), the Great War pair with contact marks and polished, thus fine, the remainder generally very fine or better (7) £300-350

B.E.M. London Gazette 1 July 1941.

William Marshall was born in Nottingham in October 1900 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in April 1918, and quickly witnessed active service in H.M.S. Bellerophon, aboard which ship he was advanced to Ordinary Seaman that October.

Awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in January 1934, while serving as an Able Seaman in the aircraft carrier Eagle, he would appear to have been serving in the destroyer Maori by the renewal of hostilities - certainly he was serving in her at the time of being awarded his B.E.M.

The Maori, under Commander Noel Brewer, R.N., quickly saw action off Norway, not least during the evacuation of Nasmos in April 1940, when two near misses from enemy aircraft caused extensive damage and wounded 20 of her crew, five of them mortally.

Commander H. T. “Beaky” Armstrong, D.S.C., R.N. (afterwards D.S.O.* and D.S.C.*), then having been appointed C.O., Maori went on to lend valuable service with Cossack, Sikh and Zulu during the Bismarck action in May 1941 - after creeping up at 25 knots on the enemy’s port quarter, under fire, and delivering a torpedo attack, she and her destroyer consorts clung to their quarry to await the arrival of Tovey’s big guns. One of Maori’s crew later described the moment Bismarck’s shells started to find their range:

‘Armour piercing shells, each weighing a ton, splashed on all sides sending up large plumes of water. One passed under the wireless aerials between the funnels, and, as Maori gathered speed Bismarck changed to shrapnel, shells exploding in the air, fragments passing through the superstructure ... ’

Maori subsequently fell victim to enemy aircraft at Grand Harbour, Malta, in early 1942; sold with an original wartime photograph of H.M.S. Maori, the reverse bearing numerous signatures, among them that of “Beaky” Armstrong.