Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Chief Steward R. J. Bird, Merchant Navy Auxiliary, who was killed when when H.M. Yacht Sappho was sunk after hitting a German mine off Falmouth on 29 September 1940

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Admiralty enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mrs. M. Kerrison, No. 6 Coronation Road, Holt, Norfolk’, extremely fine (3) £80-120

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Second World War Casualties.

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Robert John Bird served during the Second World War in H.M. Yacht Sappho, requisitioned by the Admiralty in November 1939 for use as a guard ship and in Contraband Control. Her crew during the War was a mixture of Royal Navy, Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and Merchant Navy Auxiliary personnel. She was sunk off Falmouth on 29 September 1940 after hitting a German mine, with the loss of 5 officers and 24 crew. Bird was one of those killed, aged 35. He is commemorated on the Liverpool Naval Memorial.

Medals issued to the recipient’s mother, Martha Bird, who had subsequently remarried.