Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part III)

A rare inter-war Albert Medal group of three awarded to Private W. H. Foster, Leicestershire Regiment, who was decorated for endeavouring to rescue a comrade during a serious fire in the Simla Hills, India in June 1931

Albert Medal, 2nd Class, for Gallantry in Saving Life on Land, bronze and enamel, the reverse officially inscribed, ‘Presented in the Name of His Majesty to Private William Henry Foster, 1st Battalion, The Leicestershire Regiment, for Gallantry in Endeavouring to Save Life at Sabathu, Simla Hills, on 11 June 1931’; 1939-45 Star; War Medal 1939-45, mounted as worn, good very fine (3) £4000-5000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals to the Leicester Regiment and Yeomanry formed by the late Trevor Harris.

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A.M. London Gazette 27 November 1931:

‘Shortly before 9 p.m. on the evening of 11 June 1931, a forest fire broke out in the neighbourhood of Sabathu, Simla Hills, on a steep hillside which was covered in highly inflammable pine-needles. A Company of the Leicestershire Regiment on fire picquet immediately attempted to beat out the fire. The wind, however, fanned the flames, which became so fierce that the Company was withdrawn, but on the roll being called it was found that two men, Private A. L. Smith and Private Foster, were missing. Private Smith had been cut off by the fire and in endeavouring to escape slipped on the hill-side where he lay with his clothing alight surrounded by flames and unable to move. Private Foster, who had been detached from his company, was told by an Indian that one of his comrades was lying ablaze on the hill. He at once rushed down through 200 yards of flaring undergrowth and found Smith lying helpless in the fire. Foster picked Smith up and carried him some 300 yards to a place of safety, whence both men were taken to hospital in a state of shock, Smith being so badly burned that he never rallied and died the same night

Foster’s action in endeavouring to save his comrade was an extremely brave one. He went into the fire at grave peril to his own life and had he fallen on the slippery hill-side no one would have been there to go to his assistance.’

William Henry Foster was presented with his A.M. by His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief at a Garrison Parade held at Jullunder on 15 March 1932. Details of his subsequent career remain unknown, although it is not without interest that a Private W. H. Foster of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps is listed on the published 1939-45 War P.O.W. roll as having been incarcerated at Stalag 17B at Gneizendorf.

Recent research indicates that the recipient did not become a prisoner of war, so the last sentence in the footnote should be ignored