Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Second Engineer G. Summers, Merchant Navy

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45; Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1945-48 (W. (sic) G. Summers), attempted erasure of first initial on the last, generally good very fine (5) £150-200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Awards to Merchant Seamen and D.E.M.S. Gunners.

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Gordon Summers, who was born in Llanelly in June 1896, served in the Mercantile Marine in the Great War, and was awarded the British War and Mercantile Marine War Medals.

A Second Engineer aboard the MacGregor on the renewal of hostilities in September 1939, he served in a similar capacity in the Eusturia, Kellwyn and Newton Pine in the period January 1940 to January 1941. Next joining the Empire Moat, he was aboard her when she was torpedoed and sunk by the U-124 on 20 September 1941.

Subsequently gaining entitlement to the Africa Star for services aboard the English Monarch, he also served off Normandy in the Dany-y-Bryn, and ended the War as Second Engineer in the Fort Rupert.

And to these awards he added the Naval General Service Medal for Palestine 1945-48, in which period he served in the Ocean Vigour and Runnymede Park, both of which ships were involved in the famous ‘Exodus incident’ of 1947 - with more than 4.000 refugees on board, the Exodus was escorted to Haifa by the Royal Navy, where her passengers were immediately transferred to the Empire Rival, Ocean Vigour and Runnymede Park, and taken back to France. Permission being refused to land them at the Port de Bouc, they were eventually disembarked at Hamburg.; sold with further details.