Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second War Bomber Command D.F.C. group of seven awarded to Warrant Officer C. H. Jack, 35 (Madras Presidency) Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, who took part in 41 operational sorties against such heavily defended targets as Berlin, Schweinfurt, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg, as well as achieving much success during the attacks before and after D-Day

Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated 1945; 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star, 1 clasp, France and Germany; Defence Medal, Canadian issue in silver; Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, with overseas clasp; War Medal 1939-45, Canadian issue in silver; Canadian Forces Decoration, E.II.R. (Sgt. C. H. Jack); together with the recipient’s related miniature awards, generally very fine and better (7) £1,400-£1,800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of David Lloyd.

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D.F.C. London Gazette 17 April 1945.
The original Recommendation states: ‘Warrant Officer Jack is an operator of special equipment who has repeatedly demonstrated his skill and, on many occasions, there can be no doubt that upon his accuracy and reliability depended the success of the attack. He has now completed a total of 41 operations and attacked such heavily defended targets as Berlin, Schweinfurt, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg, as well as achieving much success during the attacks before and after 6 June 1944. At all times Warrant Officer Jack shown keenness to fly against the enemy and his determination to achieve the most precise results on the target were praiseworthy, and it is considered that his fine record of service merits the non-immediate award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.’

Clayton Hugh Jack was born in Sheho, Saskatchewan, in 1921 and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force at Saskatoon on 28 October 1940. Posted to 35 (Madras Presidency) Squadron, flying Lancasters, his first operational sortie was a raid on Stuttgart on 20 February 1944, and over the next few months he would carry out further raids on Essen, Nuremberg, and the ‘Big City’, Berlin. In the early hours of D-Day, 6 June 1944, the Squadron attacked two German coastal batteries - one at Maisy and the other at Longues. Following D-Day, the majority of Jack’s sorties were targets in northern France, and later in the year the gun batteries on Walcheren Island, key to the vital port of Antwerp, and the communications centres supporting Von Runstedt's Ardenne offensive, felt the weight of the Squadron’s bombing. Jack’s 41st operational sortie was to Wilhelmshaven on 15 October 1944.

Following the cessation of hostilities Jack served for six years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, before re-joining the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1953. He retired in 1966, and died in 1996.

Sold with a photographic image of the recipient; and copied research, including relevant entries from the Squadron’s Operations Book, giving details of the sorties in which Jack took part.