Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Seven: Commander H. W. A. Moxley, C.D., Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, 1 clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star, 1 clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Burma Star, 1 clasp, Pacific; Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, with overseas clasp; War Medal 1939-45, Canadian issue in silver, with M.I.D. oak leaf; Canadian Forces Decoration, G.VI.R. (Commander H. W. A. Moxley) mounted as worn, nearly very fine (7) £300-£400

M.I.D. London Gazette 30 July 1942: ‘For leadership and skill in action against Enemy Submarines while serving in H.M. Ships Stork and Vetch.’

Henry William Athelstan Moxley was born in Bromley, Kent, on 16 May 1917. In his early life he gained employment with a leather manufacturer in Sheffield, but in September 1934 he sailed to Montreal, Canada, aboard the S.S. Cairncross. Two years later, he emigrated with employment provided in the Patent Leather trade in Toronto. Settling into the social side of life, he joined the local Royal Canadian Yacht Club, a move which was to imminently serve him well.

Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, with his sailing experience, he volunteered for service with the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve and with other R.C.N.V.R. officers, he was sent to England in April 1940 for attachment to the Royal Navy. Following the German invasion of the Low Countries and the ensuing debacle in France, Moxley was sent to join a demolition party aboard H.M.S. Beagle in June 1940, which sailed up the Gironde in order to blow an oil installation, but last minute orders cancelled the demolition and all explosives were recovered and returned to the ship for departure. This story was recorded by Moxley in later years and is available online via The Memory Project.

In 1941 Moxley served aboard H.M.S. Bluebell, a flower-class corvette deployed for escort duties, and was promoted to Lieutenant, R.C.N.V.R., on 12 April 1941. The following year he served aboard another corvette, H.M.S. Vetch. This vessel, in company with H.M.S. Stork, had a mid-Atlantic encounter with the German submarine U-252, which they sank on 14 April 1942, whilst escorting Convoy OG82 off the south-west of Ireland. Moxley was mentioned in despatches for this action. Other awards included the first of three Bars to the D.S.O. eventually awarded to Captain F. J. Walker, famously known as ‘Walker R.N.’

Moxley continued to serve throughout 1942-45 in other theatres and campaigns, including the naval operations in support of the invasion of North Africa, 1942-43; off Burma and the Indian Ocean; the Far East and Pacific Ocean; and the invasion of North-West Europe in 1944-45. Prior to his retirement he was promoted to Commander (Navigation), Royal Canadian Navy, with seniority from 1 January 1953. Commander Moxley died at Smiths Falls, Ontario, on 1 December 2006.