Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

A Great War M.M. pair awarded to Private E. Dale, 5th Battalion, West Riding Regiment
Military Medal, G.V.R. (241045 Pte. E. Dale. 5/W.Rid: R.); Victory Medal 1914-19 (241045 Pte. E. Dale. W. Rid. R.) good very fine

Pair: Private E. Dale, Lincolnshire Regiment, who died of wounds at Gallipoli on 10 August 1915
1914-15 Star (13577 Pte. E. Dale. Linc: R.); Victory Medal 1914-19 (13577 Pte. E. Dale. Linc. R.) good very fine

Pair: Private J. Dale, Lincolnshire Regiment, who died of wounds on the Western Front on 4 August 1916
1914-15 Star (11786 Pte. J. Dale. Linc: R.); Victory Medal 1914-19 (11786 Pte. J. Dale. Linc. R.) good very fine (6) £340-£380

M.M. London Gazette 11 December 1918.

Edwin Dale was born at Belton, Lincolnshire,in 1896, the son of Henry and Ann Dale. He served in the 2/5th Battalion, West Riding Regiment during the Great War. The gazette carrying the announcement of his M.M. generally carried awards for late July and early August 1918; his M.M. is therefore likely to be an award for the opening phase of the Battle of Amiens.

Ernest Arthur Dale, brother of the above, was born in 1889. He enlisted in the Lincolnshire Regiment at Epworth, Lincolnshire and disembarked in the Balkan theatre of war (Mudros Harbour) with the 6th Battalion on 18 July 1915. They then landed at Suvla on 6 August 1915 and the following day received orders that the 10th Brigade having failed, the Battalion, supported by the 6th Border Regiment were to take Chocolate Hill. The Battalion History describes the famous final assault:
‘Leaving the Dublin Fusiliers behind, the Battalion advanced in short rushes under heavy fire. One hundred yards from the crest, ‘B’ and ‘D’ companies made a last halt of half an hour, whilst our artillery and machine guns played on the Turkish positions above. Then the charge was ordered, and with a rush, our men carried the Turkish trenches on the top of the hill. Many Turks were bayoneted or shot whilst they were running away. A communication trench running down the reverse slope of the hill enabled a few Turks to get away but most of them were killed…The losses in the fight were five officers and 164 other ranks’ (The History of the 6th (Service) Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment by Colonel F. G. Spring refers).
Two days later on the 9th August the Battalion also took the crest of Hill 70 in another bloody struggle which resulted in the award of the Victoria Cross to Captain Hansen of the 6th Battalion, as Colonel Spring’s Battalion History again recounts:
‘During the whole of the morning our men held on to the hill, fighting stubbornly. But for their gallantry, the Turks would have broken through and have swept through to the beach. The ground in front of our line was strewn with Turkish dead but our own casualties had been very heavy. The hill top was covered with dry gorse and bushes which several times during the morning had been set on fire by shelling. Just before mid-day a large fire started just in front of our line. I quickly spread and drove our men back. The air was black with smoke, blinding the men, and all the time the Turks poured on with a heavy fire. With no alternative, the Colonel, at 12.15pm, gave the order to withdraw and the Battalion fell back to a trench 300 yards in rear, bringing back as many wounded as possible. The new position was consolidated but the crest of the hill was never regained. It was then that Captain Hansen, calling for volunteers, went out with four men, 400 yards in front of our line into the burning scrub and under heavy rifle fire, rescued six wounded from the terrible death of being burnt. For this action Captain Hansen was awarded the Victoria Cross… Casualties that day were terrible, the worst the battalion had ever suffered in a single attack… The battalion suffered 12 officers killed, wounded and missing and 391 rank and file, out of a possible 17 officers and 561 other ranks.’

Ernest Dale died of wounds at Gallipoli on 10 August 1915 and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli.

Henry John Dale, also brother of the above, was born in 1893. He enlisted in the Lincolnshire Regiment at Scunthorpe and arrived in France with the 8th (Service) Battalion on 10 September 1915. He died of wounds on the Western Front on 4 August 1916 and is buried in Barlin Communal Cemetery Extension, Pas de Calais, France.