Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second World War withdrawal from Greece operations D.S.M. awarded to Able Seaman F. Nunwick, Royal Navy

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (D/JX. 184811 F. Nunwick, A.B., H.M.S. Griffin), edge bruise, good very fine £700-900

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals for Services at Sea from the Collection of the Late Oliver Stirling Lee.

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D.S.M. London Gazette 11 November 1941: ‘For gallantry and distinguished services in Greek waters.’

Frank Nunwick was decorated for his services aboard the destroyer H.M.S. Griffin during the operations leading to the evacuation of Greece (Seedie’s refers). Fresh from her encounter with the Italians at Matapan, the Griffin went on to play an important role in these operations from the moment she arrived on station with convoy AN. 29 in late April 1941. Indeed one of her first tasks was to standby the bomb-damaged transport Pennland, whose survivors she brought in to Suda, and she undertook a similar task a day or two later, when ordered to take in tow the damaged assault ship Glenearn:

‘It was an unenviable assignment: close to enemy airfields with still hours of daylight to go, with a 9869-ton crippled ship like a giant sheet anchor trailing astern as a handicap ... Despite these lurking dangers the Griffin and her cumbersome tow survived the remainder of daylight and safely reached Kissamo Bay near Cape Spada in Crete’ (Crete, The Battle at Sea, by David A. Thomas, refers).

And again, in very sad circumstances, the Griffin became the first to confirm the loss of the destroyers Wryneck and Diamond, which ships had been despatched to the rescue of the Slamat, coming away with just one officer and 41 ratings from all three vessels. Reverting to troop-evacuation duties as the net closed on the embattled mainland, Griffin picked up some 4300 men of the 6th New Zealand Brigade in the S.E. of Greece at Monemvasia on the night of 28-29 April 1941, their commander, General Freyberg, among them.

During the subsequent evacuation of Crete, Griffin formed part of Force ‘A1’, and later Force ‘B’, under Admiral Rawlings, suffering like so many others engaged in those waters the danger of regular Stuka dive-bombing attacks. But she came through unscathed, and went on to amass no less than eight Battle Honours for the period 1940-42 prior to her return to home waters, “Malta Convoys 1941-42” among them. And in November of the latter year, Nunwick attended an investiture at Buckingham Palace with his mother and a cousin, a family outing saved for posterity’s sake by a hovering press photographer.