Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Second War B.E.M. awarded to Corporal Ermis Alexandrou, Intelligence Corps, for services on the Syrian frontier gathering information from or about passengers on the Taurus Express train route between Baghdad and Aleppo 1942-44

British Empire Medal, (Military) G.VI.R., 1st issue (5444177 Cpl. Ermis Alexandrou. I.C.) mounted on original investiture pin, very fine £300-£400

B.E.M. London Gazette 14 June 1945.
The original recommendation (Air 2/9094) states: ‘From May, 1942 until December, 1944 this N.C.O. has been stationed at the lonely Syrian Frontier Station of Tel Kotchek upon the Taurus express route between Baghdad and Aleppo. His has been the difficult and delicate task of actually carrying out the searches of all suspect persons proceeding out of and into Iraq on this train - the ideal medium of enemy espionage. He has had to carry in his head all manner of detailed information about the personalities of travellers and the potential contents of their baggage; as the occasion demanded he has had to be tactful, nonchalant or ruthless, the two hour stop of every Taurus Express at Tel Kotchek demands of him an intense concentration, a lightening eye and a crystal clear brain. Other N.C.O.s who have been tried here have all been too impulsive, too diffident to too lenient. This N.C.O. has devoted all his powers to his intricate job; it is no exaggeration to say that this man’s whole life has been bound up with the Taurus Express; during all this time he has never faltered, never missed an opportunity. The information that he has obtained and the articles which he has seized have been of inestimable value to the Combined Intelligence Centre, Baghdad. In short he has succeeded brilliantly at an extremely difficult and unenviable task.’