Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Attributed to Trooper A. Phillips, Royal Armoured Corps, who was killed in action when the Transport Ship MV Derrycunihy was mined and sank off Juno Beach on 24 June 1944

1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with named Army Council enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mrs. E L. Phillips, 13 Corporation Terrace, Bodmin, Cornwall’, nearly extremely fine (4) £80-£120

Albert Phillips was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, and served during the Second World War with the 43rd (Wessex) Regiment, Reconnaissance Corps, Royal Armoured Corps. He took part in the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, and embarked for North-West Europe on 18 June 1944 in the Transport Ship MV Derrycunihy, which joined a convoy off Southend-on-Sea and arrived off Sword Beach on the evening of 20 June. High seas and enemy shelling prevented unloading for three days and it was decided to move to Juno Beach for disembarkation. As the ship started engines at 07.40 hours on the morning of 24 June it detonated an acoustic mine. The mine exploded under the keel, splitting the ship in two, and the aft part, packed with men of 43rd Reconnaissance Corps, sank rapidly. Worse still, a 3-tonner ammunition lorry caught fire, and oil floating on the water was set alight. Landing craft and the gunboat H.M.S. Locust quickly came alongside and picked up survivors. Some 183 men of the regiment were killed and about 120 others wounded. 25 of the ship’s crew were also lost. Phillips was amongst those killed in action, and he is buried in Bayeux War Cemetery, France.

Sold with a newspaper cutting announcing the recipient’s death, with photograph; a photograph of the recipient’s original grave; and a small Birkenhead and Seaforth Football League silver fob shield.