Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Six: Major G. McL. Marshall, Royal Tank Corps, who was severely wounded on 22 July 1942 at El Mreir during the First Battle of El Alamein
1939-45 Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, 8th Army; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45, these all privately engraved ‘Major C [sic]. McL Marshall’; Greece, Kingdom, War Star 1941-45, for Land Operations, bronze, unnamed, good very fine

Five: Private E. D. Jones, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Efficiency Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial (4194718. Pte. E. D. Jones. Oxf. Bucks.) contact marks and edge bruising to last, therefore nearly very fine or better

Five: Corporal F. Harvey, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, late Royal Army Ordnance Corps, who was Mentioned in Despatches in 1940
1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, in named card box addressed to ‘Mr F. Harvey, 175 Sutton Park Road, Kidderminster, Worcs.’; Imperial Service Medal, E.II.R., 2nd issue (Frank Harvey), in Royal Mint case of issue; Efficiency Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial (304676 Cpl. F. Harvey. R.E.M.E.) good very fine or better (16) £100-£140

Geoffrey McLean Marshall was born in 1918 and was educated at Radley College. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Royal Tank Regiment on 24 August 1939, and was promoted War Substantive Lieutenant on 1 January 1941. He served during the Second World War in North Africa with the 40th Royal Tank Regiment. As one time Regimental Intelligence Officer, he is noted in the Regimental War Diary (WO 169/4518) on 22 July 1942 in the El Mireir Sector:
‘being blown up on a minefield during the hours of darkness. Both he and his driver escaped injury. The front wheel of the scout car was blown off’.
And on the following day:
‘23rd July 1942 at 1500 hours the I.O. Lieutenant G. McL. Marshall., sent out on a recce.; did not return, and on enquiries made on 24 July 1942 it was learned that he had been evacuated with a fractured thigh. His scout car was found on the same date, in a forward area undamaged.’

With the lot is a potted service history as related by the recipient to the vendor, describing his service with 40th Royal Tank Regiment during the 1942-43 North African Campaign followed by service in Italy with the regiment until the end of hostilities. Also contained is some information relating to his service afterwards in Greece and his later life. Details, amongst others, include his personal account of the incident on 23 July 1942, during which the recipient received a bullet wound in the thigh from an enemy aircraft while carrying an injured man on a stretcher and his subsequent life-saving operation in Alexandria. Also described are his experiences at El Alamein (losing two Valentine tanks in one day) and service in post-war Greece, where he saw action in support of the Royalist government against communist insurgents.

Marshall was advanced Captain (Honorary Major) on 27 May 1949 and relinquished his commission on 1 September 1953 on his appointment to the New Zealand Military Forces. Returning to the U.K. he again relinquished his commission on 21 June 1968 but retained the rank of Honorary Major and continued to serve with the Territorial Army, receiving the Army Emergency Reserve Decoration with an Additional Award Bar (London Gazette 26 February 1991). He died in 2003.

Sold with an Order of Service from the recipient’s funeral including a photograph of the recipient in battledress.

M.I.D. London Gazette 20 December 1940: 304676 Cpl. F. Harvey, Royal Army Ordnance Corps
‘In recognition of distinguished services in connection with operations in the field, March to June, 1940.’