Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Six: Colour Sergeant H. E. Buxcey, Gloucestershire Regiment, who was killed in action at Gloster Hill during the Battle of Imjin River, 25 April 1951, and was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches

1939-45 Star; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Korea 1950-53, 1st issue, with M.I.D. oak leaf (5182258 C. Sgt. H. E. Buxcey. Glosters.); U.N. Korea 1950-54, unnamed as issued, nearly extremely fine (6) £1,000-£1,400

M.I.D. London Gazette 8 December 1953:
‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Korea.’

Henry Ernest Buxcey was born in Binsey, Oxfordshire, on 24 March 1912, and attested for the Gloucestershire Regiment at Warwick on 28 August 1933. Posted to the 1st Battalion, he served with them in India from 7 February 1935 to 31 October 1938, in Burma from 1 November 1938 to 31 May 1942; and in India from 1 June 1942 to the end of the Second World War. He returned to the U.K. as a repatriated prisoner of War on 11 September 1945, and after further service in North West Europe and in West Africa, he arrived in Korea, with the rank of Colour Sergeant, on 12 October 1950. He served with the Gloucestershire Regiment during the Korean War, and was present at the Battle of Imjin River, 22-25 April 1951.

Buxcey was killed in action during the last stand of the Glosters on Hill 235 (Gloster Hill) on 25 April 1951:
‘Chinese mortars joined the battle. Men desperately scratched into earth to improve their cover. “All we could do was scrape with a bayonet and not to make too much noise”, said Mercer. “They could pinpoint the sound and send over a mortar bomb. The Chinese were probably within a couple of hundred yards all round. The pincers had really closed. With mortars detonating around him, Mercer decided his own trench was not good enough, so asked to join Colour Sergeant Buxcey -”a real crack shot, a pre-World War II regular” - in the trench behind him. “Find you own f***ing trench!”, the N.C.O. replied. By an odds-against chance, a bomb then landed in Buxcey’s trench killing him instantly.’ (To the Last Round, by A. Salmon refers).

Buxcey is buried in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery, Pusan, Korea.

Sold with the recipient's copied record of service and other research.