Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Second War ‘Levant Schooner Flotilla’ Special Forces D.S.M., 1943 ‘Mine-Disposal’ B.E.M. group of seven awarded to Petty Officer L. G. Taber, Royal Navy

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (P.O. L. G. Taber. B.E.M. P/JX 139146); British Empire Medal, (Military) G.VI.R., 1st issue (P.O. Leonard G. Taber, P/JX.139146); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45, these last five unnamed as issued, together with R.L.S.S. bronze medal (L. G. Taber, July 1933) in case of issue, first two with light edge bruising and contact marks, otherwise very fine or better (8) £3,000-£4,000

D.S.M. London Gazette 14 August 1945:
‘For the clearance of the Aegean and the relief of Greece during the period 1944-1945.’

The following recommendation by his Skipper, Lieutenant Bernard Stipetic, R.N.R., commanding Anglo-Hellenic Schooner 1 (awarded a D.S.C. in the same gazette) confirms his earlier award of ‘British Empire Medal - for mine-disposal’, and states:

‘Petty Officer Leonard George Taber, H.M.S. Mosquito [Coastal Forces base at Alexandria].

Action or Operation – Served as coxswain of many of the Anglo-Hellenic schooners, engaged in the landing and picking up of the raiding and reconnaissance parties in the enemy-controlled Aegean Islands.

Specific act or service – This rating at all times shows determination in pressing home an attack and I have come to rely on him for his determination and keenness. When arriving at the scene of a raid I always send him ashore in a folboat to search out the enemy dispositions of guns and men. He has the ability to obtain this information in its entirety and report back accurately. On his report largely depends my decision as to how the raid is to be effected and where to lie up the following day. His coolness and devotion to duty while obtaining this information on enemy territory surrounded by possible informants is exemplary. This is done on every enemy island we go to. On the last raid I put him in charge of a captured caique with three undesirable and bellicose aliens. He showed considerable tact and ingenuity in making them work as part of his scratch crew and bringing the boat safely to port under tricky weather conditions.’

B.E.M. London Gazette 1 January 1944.
Awarded whilst on the books of H.M.S. Prometheus, depot ship for patrol service personnel in the Mediterranean, for services with a naval mine-disposal unit which accompanied the Eighth Army in its advance from Alamein.

Leonard George Taber was born in Portsmouth to a naval family but at around twelve years of age, he and his two brothers, because of family hardship, were sent to the Naval School at Greenwich, effectively an orphanage. He and his brothers all joined the Royal Navy and served throughout the Second World War. After serving in a naval mine disposal unit in North Africa, he volunteered for service in Special Forces and was posted to the Levant Schooner Flotilla.

The activities of the schooners and caiques of the Levant Schooner Flotilla, a recognised “Commando” unit, are described in some detail in Undercover Sailors by A. Cecil Hampshire and Dust upon the Sea by W. E. Benyon-Tinker. The following from Undercover Sailors, pp 54-55, describes Petty Officer Leonard Taber:
‘Not the least important and hazardous aspect of Raiding Force work was reconnaissance. One of the caiques engaged in this work was commanded, not entirely unusually, by a petty officer who, after working with a naval mine disposal unit which accompanied the Eighth Army during its advance from Alamein had volunteered to transfer to the Levant Schooner Flotilla.

Ordered to take a Royal Marine patrol on a reconnaissance of the island of Milos, in the western Cyclades, he wrote in a report remarkable for its understatement:
“Milos was not a nice place to approach because of enemy D/F gear, searchlights and shore batteries. We therefore decided to land the marines on Kimilos, a neighbouring island, and let them paddle across to Milos in folboats.

While we were lying up in Polygandros waiting to effect the pickup in due course, a gentleman informed us that on another island there were thirteen Germans desirous of surrendering. I said we’d take them, and later that day they entered harbour in their own boat and secured alongside. They were dirty and hungry and had had enough of the war.

The Milos reconnaissance having been successfully completed, we made a round trip of Naxos, Ios, Siphanos and Siphos. But on our way back to base the engine seized up and refused to budge. We had to sail, and once used our two sweeps manned by twelve men on each side. One night with the wind gale force we logged twelve knots for two hours. Finally, however, the wind failed altogether, and we had to be towed the last 40 miles along the gulf of Cos to base.”

This cheerfully laconic Lower Deck skipper, who spent twelve months in the flotilla, was eventually awarded the DSM and BEM.’

Taber received shrapnel wounds in his leg and arm, and after the war was discharged suffering from tuberculosis. He moved to Scotland and worked in the Highlands as a shepherd and then as a gardener. There, aged 36, he met his wife who was working there in a hotel during the summer months. They had three children and moved to Essex around 1970. He was active in naval organisations, and proudly wore his green beret at reunions. The British Legion and the Royal Naval Association were strongly represented at his funeral. (Personal information provided by Leonard Taber’s eldest daughter in 2001).

Sold with copied recommendation and extracts from both Undercover Sailors by A. Cecil Hampshire and Dust upon the Sea by W. E. Benyon-Tinker.