Auction Catalogue

2 July 2003

Starting at 10:00 AM

.

Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Grand Connaught Rooms  61 - 65 Great Queen St  London  WC2B 5DA

Lot

№ 1076

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2 July 2003

Hammer Price:
£120

Four: Leading Telegraphist E. T. Burrows, Royal Navy

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, unnamed as issued, mounted for display, good very fine and better (4) £120-160

Sold with five original letters and one card written by Burrows as a prisoner-of-war to his girlfriend, Miss Eve Stephens of Looe, Cornwall; one stamped but unused ‘Prisoner of War Post’ letter addressed to Burrows at Stalag VIIA; a 1939 Christmas card to Miss Stephens from H.M.S. Edinburgh; a very brief hand written note of his career written by Burrows himself and a copy of the recipient’s Birth Certificate.

Edwin Thomas Burrows was born on 3.5.1918 at Mutley, Plymouth. He is believed to have entered the Royal Navy in 1933, joining the battleship H.M.S.
Barham and later served aboard H.M. Ships Galatea and Royal Oak. At the outbreak of the Second World War Burrows was serving on the cruiser H.M.S. Edinburgh. The ship was attacked in the Firth of Forth in October 1939; believed to be the first German air raid on Britain. In 1940 he was transferred to the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Illustrious prior to her sailing for the Mediterranean. On 10.1.1941 the Illustrious was hit several times when Stukas found her in convoy off Malta. She was attacked again on the 16th and 18th whilst under repair in the Grand Harbour. On the 23rd she ran for Alexandria and thence the United States. Burrows had in the meantime been drafted to Crete. During May 1941 he was wounded and taken prisoner by German Airborne forces. Burrows was held prisoner at Stalag VIIA at Moorsburg in Austria, later he was transferred to Marlag und Milag Nord at Westertimke near Bremen. The camp was liberated by the allies on 28.4.1945 and Burrows was repatriated and left the Royal Navy on a disability pension due to the wounds he had received in Crete.