A rare South Russia 1919 operations Naval M.S.M. group of three awarded to Ordinary Seaman G. J. Friend, Royal Navy

British War and Victory Medals (J. 87667 Boy 1, R.N.); Royal Naval Meritorious Service Medal, G.V.R., 1st issue (J. 87667 Ord. Sea., “Grafton”, Novorossisk, 14 Oct. 1919) this last with re-riveted suspension claw and all heavily polished, with severe edge bruising and contact marks, thus fair to fine (3) £180-220

George James Friend was born at Rochester, Kent in January 1901 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in April 1918. Posted to the cruiser H.M.S. Grafton as a Boy 1st Class in August 1918, he served in the Black Sea where his ship acted as a depot for the Royal Navy’s campaign in support the White Russians.

Friend’s M.S.M. was undoubtedly awarded for his deeds at Novorossiysk on 14 October 1919, when, according to Grafton’s ship’s log, a fire broke out in an ammunition dump on the jetty, the same fire presumably spreading to the S.S. War Pike, which had to be towed out of harbour: at 1.40 p.m. Grafton sent a working party over to the War Pike to assist in fighting the fire, a working party that almost certainly included young Friend.

The port of Novorossiysk was a dangerous place to be around at this time, as illustrated in the following extract from The Day We Almost Bombed Moscow, by Christopher Dobson and John Miller:

‘Novorossiysk itself was like a foretaste of hell. The all pervasive typhus killed thousands of the refugees who crowded the streets fighting to get to the docks to board a ship, any ship going anywhere to escape the Bolsheviks. The bitter wind known as the “Bura” scoured the streets. On the dockside the British, reinforced by a battalion sent from Constantinople, struggled to organise the evacuation and to destroy the vast quantities of supplies ...’

Friend’s M.S.M. was erroneously gazetted to him as a Private in the R.M.L.I. (London Gazette 8 March 1920), and error that was subsequently corrected (London Gazette 4 May 1920).

He was still serving - as an Able Seaman - when killed on leave in a motor cycling accident on 10 April 1928.