Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A remarkable Second World War D.C.M. group of eight awarded to Sergeant E. M. W. McGarrigle, Coldstream Guards, who, after being captured at Louvain in May 1940, made a successful bid for freedom, and remained thereafter an active member of the French Maquis in the Haute Loire, receiving parachute drops and carrying out acts of sabotage

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.VI.R. (2657234 L. Sjt. E. M. W. McGarrigle, C. Gds.); 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45; France, Combatant’s Cross; Medal for Voluntary Service in the Free French Forces; War Commemorative Medal 1939-45, 2 clasps, Liberation, France; Medal of Liberated France 1944, all but the third mounted as worn, the first with several edge bruises, otherwise generally good very fine (7) £4000-5000

D.C.M. London Gazette 21 June 1945. The original recommendation states:

‘This soldier proceeded into Belgium with the B.E.F. on 10 May 1940 and was captured near Louvain in a skirmish with the advancing German troops. He quickly escaped but was later recaptured on his way back to the Lille area where he hoped to find members of his unit. He again escaped, despite the fact that he was under close observation at an airfield held by the enemy, and this time managed to reach Lille, having obtained civilian clothes from friendly Belgians.

It was here that he heard of the capitulation of Belgium. He waited around in Lille for an opportunity to rejoin his unit, but after several abortive attempts, he decided that his only chance was to return to the U.K. via Spain.

He procured Belgian and French identity cards and reached the Somme, where, however, he was turned back by the German police. He later crossed near Peronne, hidden under piles of newspapers in a lorry. He made his way to Moulins where he attempted to cross the demarcation line, but was again caught by the enemy and put on a train to go back to Paris. He got off the train at the first stop and returned to a point near Moulins, where he succeeded in crossing the Loire by boat.

At Lyons, he contacted the American Consulate and was instructed to proceed to the P.O.W. camp at St. Hippolyte. As the idea of a prison camp and consequent inactivity was repugnant to him, he decided to make an independent attempt at crossing the Pyrenees and made his way by stages to Perpignan. Here he was warned by friendly French police that if he hung around he would certainly be arrested, so as he had not the necessary amount of money to buy the services of a “passeur”, he decided to return to France and hide until he could join up with a Resistance group.

He spent a few months near Limoges and early in 1942 joined a Resistance group in the Haute Loire at Yssingeaux. This group was run by our agent, “Heckler”, and McGarrigle was under the direct orders of Commandant Simon, alias “Fayolles”.

McGarrigle was present at a large number of parachute operations in which he took a prominent part and engaged in arms instruction to the Maquis groups. After D-Day, he commanded a platoon before and during a battle which led to the capitulation of the enemy garrison numbering over 2,000 at Le Puy. He also undertook a considerable number of ambushes, as a result of which German troops were only able to advance 15 kilometres in eight days towards the fighting zone.

Private McGarrigle showed great courage in endeavouring to rejoin his unit despite continual danger of being re-captured. His escapes from enemy hands show him to be quick-witted and resourceful besides his obvious dogged determination to continue the fight. He was of immense value in the Maquis group and personally played an extremely courageous part in the ambushes on German troops and in the attack on Le Puy garrison - all the above without special training or volunteering specially for this particularly hazardous work. He did much to raise morale in French Resistance circles by his fine example and it is recommended that he should be awarded the Military Medal.’

Ernest Morland Walker McGarrigle was born in Northumberland in May 1916 and enlisted in the Coldstream Guards in Newcastle in December 1935. According to his service record, he was appointed Lance-Sergeant in late 1938, but appears to have lost his stripes as a result of being absent without leave in early 1940 - he had been embarked for active service with the 1st Battalion in the British Expeditionary Force in September 1939.

As cited above, he was taken prisoner near Louvain in late May 1940 but, after two or three attempts, made a successful bid for freedom in April 1941, thereby setting in motion his remarkable adventures with the Maquis. Thus his employment in the Haute Loire, home to S.O.E. circuit “Heckler”, run by the American Virginia Hall (a.k.a. “Marie”), until her recall to London at the end of 1942, but she returned as an O.S.S. agent to establish another circuit in April 1944, a circuit that would have arranged the parachute supply drops to McGarrigle and his comrades, around 40 of them taking place on the Vivarais-Lignon plateau in June-July 1944 alone. Moreover, the local Maquis put such supplies to good use, a 48-hour battle being fought against German troops in Mont-Mouchet in early June; railway bridges being blown up at Chamalieres and Lavoute-sur-Loire in early August, in addition to ambushes being carried out at Bellevue-la-Montague, Craponne-sur-Arzon and St. Geneys. And a week or two later, on the 19th, as referred to in McGarrigle’s recommendation, the same resistance fighters captured Le Puy, a crowning action that led to the region finally being liberated early in the following month. Meanwhile, the Maquis had been joined by S.A.S. Jedburgh team “Jeremy”.

McGarrigle was repatriated to the U.K. in November 1944, his debrief originally leading to him being recommended for the M.M., but higher authority rightly upgraded his distinction to D.C.M. Moreover, as late as September 1989, he was issued with the France and Germany Star, his application presumably having been accepted on account of the fact he was strictly a serving Guardsman at the time of his gallant deeds with the Maquis (his service record confirms).

Advanced to Sergeant in July 1945, McGarrigle was placed on the Regular Army Reserve in April 1946; sold with original War Office communication regarding a future presentation ceremony for the recipient’s D.C.M., dated 1 July 1946; together with photocopied service record.