Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family group:

The Boer War Medal awarded to Private R. Thomson, Royal Army Medical Corps

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (15186 Pte. R. Thomson, R.A.M.C.), polished, nearly very fine

The Second World War campaign group of four awarded to Lance-Corporal R. F. Thomson, South African Electrical Corps, who, having been taken P.O.W. at Tobruk in June 1942, made a successful escape to Switzerland in December 1943: the benefits of his new found freedom included his marriage to a Swiss lady in October 1944

1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45; Africa Service Medal 1939-45, all officially inscribed, ‘190377 R. F. Thomson’, mounted as worn, good very fine (5) £200-250

Robert Thomson, who was born in Aberdeen, enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps in March 1901, aged 18 years. He was subsequently embarked for South Africa, where he served from November of the latter year until being transferred to the Army Reserve in October 1904. Thomson returned to South Africa in June 1912, where he was briefly re-engaged in 1913, before taking his discharge; sold with copied attestation and service papers and medal roll verification.

Robert Frederick Thomson was born in Johannesburg in November 1917, son of the above, and attested for the South African Electrical Corps in August 1940. Advanced to Lance-Corporal in June 1941, he was embarked for North Africa, where he served in 20th Division Field Park Company, S.A.E.C. up until his capture at Tobruk on 21 June 1942.

Initially held in captivity in North Africa, Thomson was transported to a P.O.W. camp at Capua in December 1943 and thence, in January 1943, to P.G. 54, 35 kilometres from Rome. Two months later he was moved to P.G. 146, a labour camp at Mortara, Pavia, and it was from here he made his successful bid for freedom on 9 September 1943:

‘When the Armistice came I left my camp on 9.9.43 and lived for a week in the fields surrounding the district and then left for Vigevano, Pavia, where I stayed for one month. From here I made an attempt to travel to Switzerland by train and arrived at Stresa. It was here that my leg was injured and I had to remain for a fortnight. From here, when my leg had recovered, I went back to Vigevano, where I stayed for a further fortnight. I then set out by train to Lunioani and from there, on foot, crossed into Switzerland’ (Thomson’s P.O.W. debrief, refers).

During his debrief, Thomson also listed those who had assisted his bid for freedom, among them Mena Casazza of Vigevano, who provided him with clothes and a safe house for a fortnight; Isa Bescio, who likewise provided lodging, and Antonette Caviglani, who offered to help Thomson in his final crossing of the border into Switzerland; it was while staying with Caviglani that two guides arrived to take him on the final leg of his journey, the party reaching Locarno on 12 November 1943.

Thomson was repatriated from Switzerland in late 1944 and was discharged at Johannesburg in May 1945. As verified by his service record, he met his wife-to-be in Switzerland, a resident of Winterthur, Zurich - they were married in October 1944; sold with original envelopes and Union Defence Forces forwarding slip; G.H.Q., Pretoria ‘message of thanks’ for services rendered, dated 4 May 1945, and a copy of The Gospel of St. John, together with copied service record and escape report.