Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue, coinage head (Ply. 19667 G. C. Wilkinson, Mne., R.M.) edge nicks, very fine £80-100

George Charles Wilkinson was born in Poplar, London in August 1899 and enlisted in the Royal Marines as a Private in July 1917. Posted to the recruiting depot at Deal, he joined the City of London in August 1918, shortly before the end of hostilities, thereby earning entitlement to the British War and Victory Medals. Between the Wars, in addition to his L.S. & G.C. Medal which was awarded in August 1932, he also added the Coronation 1937 Medal to his Honours and Awards, and was discharged in August 1938.

On the renewal of hostilities, he was recalled to the Plymouth Division, R.M., and was subsequently mentioned in despatches for his services as an Acting Corporal (London Gazette 30 July 1942 refers). Seedie’s further confirms that his award was for a gun action fought by the S.S. Tongariro, bound from Freemantle to East London, in the Indian Ocean on 3 March 1942, in fact a duel with a Japanese submarine 80 miles north-west of Cape Leeuwin - the latter was driven off. Wilkinson was released in October 1946.