Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second World War destroyer operations D.S.M. group of seven awarded to Chief Petty Officer J. E. Freemantle, Royal Navy

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (Temp. P.O. J. E. Freemantle, P./JX. 127256); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa 1942-43; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (JX. 127256 P.O., R.N., H.M.S. Cleveland), mounted as worn, rate officially corrected on the first, contact marks and a little polished, otherwise generally very fine (7) £600-800

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 23 June 1945. The original recommendation for a periodic award states:

‘For leadership, zeal, example and cheerful devotion to duty over a considerable period.’

James Elliott Freemantle was decorated for his services aboard the Hunt-class destroyer H.M.S. Cleveland (Seedie’s refers).

Born at Southampton, Hampshire in March 1910, the son of Petty Officer Frank Freemantle (see Lot 122), young James entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in June 1926. Unusually, he went on to serve aboard the same ship for the entire duration of the 1939-45 War, namely the destroyer Cleveland, latterly in the rate of Temporary Petty Officer. The winner of no less than eight Battle Honours, ranging from “Atlantic 1942” to “Adriatic 1944”, the Cleveland was present at the Allied landings in Sicily, Salerno and the South of France, all actions that no doubt contributed to Freemantle’s end-of-hostilities D.S.M. So, too, presumably, her earlier role as a destroyer escort to the force that attacked St. Nazaire on 23 March 1942, when she came under air attack after making contact with the handful of M.Ls that emerged the following day. Interestingly, in September of the same year, she also suffered two or three casualties when engaged by an E-Boat during the course of a Channel convoy.

Freemantle, who was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in April 1943, was finally pensioned ashore in March 1958.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s Certificate of Service and Gunnery History Sheet, and a wartime photograph of H.M.S. Cleveland.