Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Six: Petty Officer Stoker R. Downes, Royal Navy, who was killed in action when H.M.S. Isis struck a mine and sank in channel ‘T’ off the western sector of the Normandy landing beaches on 20 July 1944

1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with named Admiralty enclosure, in card box of issue addressed to ‘Mrs R. A. H. Downes, 136 Ham Drive, Plymouth’, good very fine (6) £100-£140

Robert Downes was a resident of Plymouth, Devon, and served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War as a Petty Officer Stoker in the destroyer H.M.S. Isis. His ship saw heavy action in the Mediterranean where she was involved in the evacuation of allied personnel from Crete in April 1941, after which, while pursuing two Vichy French destroyers, she was severely damaged by a JU.88 Bomber off Beirut, Lebanon. On 19 February 1943 she was involved in the attack and sinking of the German submarine U-562 in the Mediterranean Sea north-east of Benghazi and in 1944, Isis took part in the operations off the Normandy coast following D-Day. On 20 July 1944, she struck a mine and sank in channel ‘T’ off the western sector of the Normandy landing beaches with the loss of 11 officers and 143 ratings. Downes was amongst those killed and is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.

Note: The recipient’s Admiralty enclosure slip gives his entitlement to 7 ‘Stars, Medals, Clasps, or Emblems’; presumably he was also entitled to the North Africa 1942-43 clasp.