Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Wing Commander R. O. Rhys, Auxiliary Air Force

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Air Efficiency Award, G.VI.R., 1st issue (Act. Wg. Cdr. R. O. Rhys, A.A.F.), mounted as worn, polished, very fine or better (5) £400-500

Richard Owen Rhys was born in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire in June 1915 and was commissioned Pilot Officer in No. 614 (County of Glamorgan) Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force, in September 1937.

An Army Co-operation unit, 614 came to readiness with its Lysanders with the Nazi push into the Low Countries in May 1940, six of its aircraft being ferried to Amiens-Glisy Aerodrome to act as spotters for the British and French artillery. Earlier, in late 1939, some of the Squadron’s pilots had departed to France for liaison work.

Back in the U.K. after the fall of France, the Squadron was enlisted in support of ‘Operation Cromwell’, the anti-invasion plan and, more specifically, top-secret ‘Operation Banquet’, the latter including plans to deliver mustard gas to beachheads secured by a German invasion force - the gas was to be dropped from canisters secured to the undercarriages of 614’s Lysanders.

Rhys was advanced to Flight Lieutenant in September 1940, about the time ‘A’ Flight was detached to Inverness to form No. 241 Squadron; earlier, in October 1939, ‘B’ Flight had been detached to form 225 Squadron. Both became highly successful reconnaissance units and it might well be that Rhys qualified for his Air Crew Europe Star in that capacity.

Be that as it may, he transferred to the Administrative and General Duties Branch in September 1941, taking up an appointment with the British Joint Staff Mission at the Offices of the Combined Chiefs of Staff in Washington D.C., and appears to have remained similarly employed until the war’s end. He was advanced to Squadron Leader in June 1943 and to Wing Commander in January 1945. He later became a Deputy Lieutenant of Glamorgan in the mid-1960s.

Sold with an original stamped envelope addressed to recipient at the British Joint Staff Mission in Washington D.C., together with copied research.