Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria. To coincide with the OMRS Convention

A rare Second World War ‘Aegean’ operations D.S.C. and Southern Cross Medal group of nine awarded to Colonel F. N. Coulter, Chief Commandant Group 10 Commandos, S.A.D.F., late Lieutenant, S.A.N.F., seconded to the Royal Navy and in command of Special Service H.D.M.L. 1283 on more than 150 special forces landings and pick-ups in the Greek Islands with the Levant Schooner Flotilla

Republic of South Africa, Southern Cross Medal, the edge officially numbered ‘339’; S.A.D.F. Good Service Medal, bronze, the edge officially numbered ‘3262’; Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., the reverse officially dated ‘1945’; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Defence and War Medals; Africa Service Medal, these last six all officially impressed (67617 F. N. Coulter) together with Greek commemorative Campaign Star 1941-45 (Sea Operations), Greek Sacred Squadron bronze badge, and R.N. officers bullion cap badge, good very fine (12) £5000-7000

D.S.C. London Gazette 14 August 1945 (Aegean and Greece). Only two awards of the D.S.C. and three awards of the D.S.M. were gazetted for services in Harbour Defence Motor Launches in the Aegean.

Frank Norris Coulter, who was born at Germiston in the Transvaal in November 1915, entered the South African R.N.V.R. as an Ordinary Seaman at Durban in June 1940. Commissioned as a Temporary Sub. Lieutenant, R.N.V.R in October 1941, after attending King Alfred at Hove in England, he was seconded for services with the Royal Navy in the following year, having been appointed to the S.A.N.F. (V.) in the interim.

Regular active service followed in, among others, H.M. Ships Speedwell, a minesweeper, and Lady Hogarth, an asdic trawler, both in 1943. But by August of the same year he was serving with the 119th Harbour Defence Motor Launch (H.D.M.L.) Flotilla, the commencement of his journey to employment in the clandestine world of the “Levant Schooner Flotilla” (afterwards the “Anglo-Hellenic Schooner Flotilla”).

Established in May 1943, the Flotilla was based at Mosquito II at Beirut, its primary task being to insert and collect elements of the S.B.S. and S.A.S., and other undercover units, as they carried out a busy agenda of daring raids and reconnaissances on enemy-held islands in the Aegean.

According to accompanying research, which includes photocopies of Coulter’s own post-war operational notes, he participated in no less than 170 landings or pick ups between 1943-45, the whole in specially adapted 75-foot, wooden-hulled Harbour Defence Motor Launches (actually H.D.M.Ls 1028 and 1283), crewed by two Officers, two Petty Officers and around 15 crew, including Gunners and a Wireless Operator. The standard armament comprised a 40mm. Bofors, twin Vickers, a 20mm. Oerlikon and eight depth charges.

Their human cargo varied in size from a single operative to as many as 70 raiders, often raiders of the famous kind coming aboard. Coulter’s notes include mention of an Anders “Andy” Lassen drop on Samos, and trips with Major George Jellicoe to Metylini and Patmos, and include his account of an operation to Piscopi, in which Major “Jock” Lapraik and four raiders were landed to sabotage a runway being used by a German Fieseler Stork aircraft - the explosives they laid were stolen by a local Greek fisherman to bolster the size of his catch!

From time to time Coulter had to steer his H.D.M.L. through the channel between the Turkish coast and Kos (actually the site of the fictional “Guns of Navarone”), a passage that inevitably attracted the attention of the trigger-happy Turks – on one occasion their fire damaged the starboard side of H.D.M.L. 1283, penetrating into the Coxswain’s quarters, but, as a result ‘of lots of luck, the rum ration contained in gallon earthenware jugs’ was not affected.

Coulter’s secondment to the Royal Navy ended in November 1945 and he was finally released from full time service in June 1946. As late as 1966, however, he re-attested in Natal for National Service in the Commandos, in the rank of Captain, and assumed command of the Highway Commando with the rank of Commandant in the following year. Awarded the Southern Cross Medal and advanced to Chief Commandant in 1968, he became a substantive Colonel in 1972 and was awarded his S.A.D.F. Good Service Medal in 1979, the year of his retirement. His interests in matters nautical remained to the fore, however, Coulter qualifying for his Master’s Certificate for ships of 100 tons or more in 1975, and serving as an Executive Member of the Durban Harbour Defence Committee from 1976-79.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including King Alfred passing out certificate, dated 23 October 1941; ship’s service “flimsies” for the Speedwell and Lady Hogarth, both for 1943; Greek Sacred Squadron badge award certificate; Admiralty letter of notification for the award of the D.S.C., dated 22 August 1945, and investiture invitation to Government House, Pretoria, dated 14 November 1947; award certificates for the Southern Cross Medal and S.A.D.F. Good Service Medal, dated 1 November 1968 and 15 June 1979 respectively; and a fine series of wartime photographs of the Levant Schooner Flotillla’s H.D.M.Ls at work in the Aegean.