Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War M.C. group of nine awarded to Colonel L. A. Wilmot, Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps, late 29th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, who was twice wounded and four times held temporary command of the Battalion - on account of his preference for being out in No Man’s Land rather than in a trench, he was known to his men as “Overland Slim”

Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. L. A. Wilmot, 29/Can. Inf.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Major L. A. Wilmot); France and Germany Star; Defence Medal 1939-45, silver; Canadian Voluntary Service Medal 1939-45, with overseas clasp; War Medal 1939-45, silver, M.I.D. oak leaf; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., Canada, the reverse officially inscribed, ‘Col. L. A. Wilmot, M.C.’, minor contact marks and a little polished, otherwise very fine or better (9) £800-1000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the Canadian Expeditonary Force 1914-1918.

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M.C. London Gazette 15 March 1916:

‘For conspicuous gallantry during an assault. Lieutenant Wilmot was under heavy fire for several hours whilst cutting wire. He then led an assaulting party and, though wounded, superintended their withdrawal.’

Lemuel Allan Wilmot, who was born in Victoria, British Columbia, in October 1891, was a pre-war graduate of the Royal Military College at Kingston, Ontario, who joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in December 1914.

Commissioned in the 29th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, he was embarked for France in February 1915, and won his M.C. for the above cited deeds on 31 January 1916, when he received multiple wounds in his arms and legs. Lord Beaverbrook’s Canada in Flanders refers to the incident, commending Wilmot for shooting dead an enemy gunner and for keeping his head after being wounded by a grenade - ‘the 29th Battalion killed at least 20 of the enemy, did considerable damage to the dugouts and machine-guns and brought back three prisoners.’

Having then returned to duty and sustained further wounds on 17 July 1916, he was given the temporary rank of Major and was awarded a “mention” (London Gazette 1 June 1917 refers). Known among his men as “Overland Slim”, on account of his preference for being out in No Man’s Land, Wilmot remained actively employed in the Battalion until being invalided to the U.K. on account of shellshock in May 1918 - but he rejoined his unit in the Field shortly before the War’s end, when he held temporary command of the Battalion for a fourth time.

Wilmot was demobilised back in Canada in early 1919 and served briefly in the 1st British Columbia regiment before being placed on the Reserve of Officers in 1920. Recalled in the 1939-45 War, he served in the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps from 1942 until November 1946, gaining advancement to Colonel prior to his embarkation for active service in North-West Europe in August 1944. He died at Osgoode, Ontario, in January 1953.

Sold with copied service records and confirmation of his 1939-45 War campaign medal entitlement, together with several letters from old comrades in the 29th Battalion.