Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Flying Officer J. M. H. Sargent, Royal Air Force, a Spitfire P.R.U. pilot who was posted missing in December 1941

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, together with related Air Ministry condolence slip in the name of ‘Flying Officer J. M. H. Sargent’, extremely fine (3) £300-350

John Michael Hewlett Sargent, the son of the Revd. Lawrens Sargent, of St. Peter-in-Thanet, Kent, was originally commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Tank Corps, direct from the Royal Military Academy, in January 1938. Subsequently transferring to the Royal Air Force, he was appointed a Pilot Officer in May 1940 and advanced to Flying Officer in May 1941, and was posted to No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (P.R.U.) at R.A.F. Benson that September. He subsequently completed at least eight operational missions over France, Germany and Belgium over the coming weeks (accompanying list from National Archives AIR29/414 refers), but was posted missing in Spitfire N3117 on a mission to Berck-sur-Mer on 9 December 1941. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.