Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A well documented group of six awarded to Lance-Serjeant C. E. Matthews, 11th Battalion Parachute Regiment, late Royal West Kent Regiment, who died of wounds at Arnhem, 21 September 1944

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine (858241 Pte. C. Matthews, R.W. Kent R.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals, these unnamed, extremely fine (6) £800-1000

Private Charles Edward Matthews, Royal West Kent Regiment, served in Palestine before the war. As a Lance-Serjeant in the 11th Battalion Parachute Regiment, A.A.C., he died of wounds at the ‘Schoonoord Hotel’ Hospital during the battle of Arnhem, 21 September 1944, aged 24 years. He was buried in the Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery. He was the son of Walter William and Beatrice Matthews, and husband of Vera Florence Matthews, of Palmers Green, Middlesex.

With certificate of registry of birth; named card box of issue for the G.S.M., this in registered envelope addressed to ‘Mrs V. F. Matthews, 2 Hazel Close, Palmers Green, London, Q13’; W.W.2 medals in card forwarding box similarly addressed, together with condolence slip; photograph of the recipient as a Lance-Serjeant in the Parachute Regiment; three wedding photographs; other photographs (14) military, grave etc.; with letters and papers including: Buckingham Palace letter of sympathy; a letter from his wife to a friend, expressing the hope that he was still alive; a letter to his widow from the regiment stating he had been wounded and taken to the regimental first aid post which was later captured by the Germans; another from Oosterbeek stating that he died at Schoonoord Hospital and that his grave had not been identified; another, from a Major, R.A.M.C., stating he had been wounded and died later in the day and had been buried near the cross-roads at Oosterbeck; another (2) re. the establishment of a cemetery to hold the bodies of the those killed in the Arnhem battle; another letter to his widow re. personal effects; and another letter to accompany a photograph of his grave; together with a brooch bearing a photograph of the recipient.