Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A good Great War M.C. group of eight awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel B. G. T. Hawkes, Worcestershire Regiment, who, having survived active service with the 4th Battalion in Gallipoli, was wounded at Delville Wood on the Somme in 1916 with the 2nd Battalion - he was subsequently awarded the M.C. while attached to a Trench Mortar Battery

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (2 Lieut., Worc. R.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Capt.); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf, good very fine and better (8) £1000-1200

M.C. London Gazette 3 June 1919.

Mention in despatches London Gazette 28 December 1918 and 4 April 1946 (North-West Europe).

Bernard Gwynne Twyford Hawkes was commissioned into the Worcestershire Regiment in 1915 and quickly witnessed active service in the 4th Battalion in Gallipoli, in which theatre of war he arrived that August, soon after the the devastating casualties sustained by the Battalion in its attack on “The Vineyard” feature - just a Sergeant and 20 men were left standing. For his own part, prior to being evacuated in December, Hawkes served as Adjutant for a fortnight in lieu of Lieutenant H. James, V.C., being put out of action by a foot wound. Next actively employed with the 2nd Battalion on the Somme in the summer of 1916, he was wounded during the successful attack on the “Tea Trench” feature at Delville Wood on 24 August, on which date his unit sustained casualties of 150 killed or wounded - no doubt, too, he had earlier participated in the Battalion’s attack on High Wood in the previous month. Latterly attached to the 6th Battalion, and to the 100th Trench Mortar Battery, he was awarded the M.C. and a “mention” for his services in France in 1918.

Demobilised in 1919, he returned to his pre-war career as a director of the family firm, A. C. Hawkes Ltd. of Birmingham, but on the renewal of hostilities in 1939 he rejoined his old regiment in the rank of Captain (Temporary Major, September 1941), an appointment that witnessed him ‘help to train the R.A.F. Regiment at Worcester, organise the ground defence of airfields and serve as a Liaison Officer with American troops based in the U.K.’ (accompanying newspaper obituary refers). He was then appointed a Military Governor in Cologne, gaining advancement to Lieutenant-Colonel and another mention in despatches ‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in North-West Europe.’ The Colonel died at Edgbaston, Birmingham in November 1955, aged 65 years.