Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Attributed to Able Seaman S. G. Harding, Royal Navy, who was taken Prisoner of War when H.M.S. Encounter was sunk in the Java Sea in February 1942, and died in captivity after three years as a Prisoner of the Japanese on 16 April 1945
1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Pacific Star, 1 clasp, Burma; War Medal 1939-45, mounted for display alongside a photographic image of the recipient, good very fine

Pair: Trooper J. A. Bibby, 5th Dragoon Guards
Korea 1950-53, 1st issue (22305334 Tpr. J. A. Bibby. 5DG); U.N. Korea 1950-54, unnamed as issued, this a modern striking, with an original card box of issue; together with two foreign miniature medals, comprising the Korean War Participation Medal (uniface striking); and the Pingat Jasa Malaysia Medal, good very fine (6) £140-£180

Sydney George Harding was born in Woolwich, Kent, on 16 April 1918, and entered the Royal Navy in 1940. He joined H.M.S. Encounter, a Class E Destroyer, in Malta on 18 July 1941, and served in her in the Mediterranean in support of the 8th Army in Tobruk. In Novermber 1941 Encounter joined the Far East Fleet, and the following February became heavily engaged in the Battles of the Java Sea. She was hit by shellfire and set ablaze, and sunk, with the majority of her crew surviving but being taken Prisoner of War. Harding spent the next three years as a Prisoner of the Japanese in Macassa Camp, dying of Bacillus Dysentery on 16 April 1945, his 27th birthday, just four months before the end of the War. He is buried in Ambon War Cemetery, Indonesia.

Sold with copied research.

John Arthur Bibby was born in Woolwich on 27 August 1931, the son of Frederick Bibby, who served in the Royal Garrison Artillery Band during the Great War. He attested for the 5th Dragoon Guards and sailed for Korea with his Regiment in November 1951, arriving in Pusan in December 1951. He served with “B” Squadron in Korea, which on 2 July 1952  supported the attack on Hill 227 by 1 RAR, who lost 3 killed and 34 wounded in this fierce Battle.

On  18 November 1952 “B” Squadron was committed in support of the Black Watch for the Second Battle for ’The Hook’. Initially the Black Watch held their positions but were gradually forced back by an overwhelming Chinese attack. Colonel Rose, Commanding Officer of the Black Watch, launched a determined counter attack and, supported by the Centurion tanks of “B” Squadron, 5th Dragoon Guards, successfully drove the Chinese off the Hill. One tank was hit by a rocket launcher and the driver wounded but continued to fire its 20 Pounder gun and Browning Machine Gun.

In December 1952 the Regiment was posted to the Suez Canal Zone. Bibby subsequently emigrated to Australia and died in Brisbane on 30 August 1977.

Withdrawn