Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private A. W. Clapham, Royal Berkshire Regiment, who died of wounds in Burma during Operation Loincloth, the first Chindit Operation, on 14 April 1943

1939-45 Star; Burma Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Army Council enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mrs. Clapham, 89 Lynton Road, Bermondsey, SE1’, 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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Alfred William Clapham served with the 1st Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment during the Second World War, and died of a gun shot wound to the abdomen in Burma on 14 April 1943, aged 22, whilst taking part in Operation Loincloth, the first Chindit Expedition of the War. On 13 February 1943 a force of some 3,000 men under the command of General Orde Wingate crossed the Chidwin River into Burma; by the end of April, when the last of the Force had re-crossed the River back into India, over 800 men had been lost, and of the nearly 2,200 who returned only 600 were found to be fit for duty. Clapham is buried in Taukkyan War Cemetery, Burma.