Orders, Decorations and Medals

A rare George VI M.M. group for Korea awarded to Lance-Corporal P. Devenney, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, attached King's Own Scottish Borderers with whom he was mentioned in despatches for Malaya

MILITARY MEDAL G.VI.R., 2nd type (22546911 L/Cpl., A. & S.H.); ITALY STAR; WAR MEDAL; GENERAL SERVICE 1918-62, 2 clasps, Palestine 1945-48, Malaya, with M.I.D. oak leaf emblem (14814920 Pte., A. & S.H.) some official corrections to naming, KOREA 1950-53 (22546911 Cpl., M.M., K.O.S.B.); U.N. KOREA; CAMPAIGN SERVICE 1962, 1 clasp, Radfan (22546911 5. Sgt., M.M., K.O.S.B.) mounted court style as worn, nearly very fine or better and a rare combination of medals (7)

The group is sold with a quantity of original documentation including M.I.D. certificate dated 30 September, 1958; Certificate of Service; three photographs of the recipient and other documents and cuttings.

M.M., London Gazette, 11 December, 1951.

Patrick Devenney was born in 1923 and served with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Italy during the second World War and later in Palestine. Demobbed in 1946, he reenlisted four years later with his old regiment being attached to the King's Own Scottish Borderer's for service in Korea. He won his M.M. in the memorable action on Hill 317, 20 miles north of the Imjin River, on 4th November, 1951. Private Bill Speakman was awarded the Victoria Cross on the same occasion and Hill 317 subsequently became known as 'Speakman's Hill.'

In a Special Order of the Day, Lieut-Colonel J.F.M. Macdonald, D.S.O., O.B.E., commanding 28th Infantry Brigade, paid tribute with the following words: 'Sunday, 4th November, 1951, will be remembered and revered for all times in the annals of the King's Own Scottish Borderers. On this day you stood your ground from early dawn in the face of intense and accurate enemy bombardment, and as the afternoon wore on, you met and held a major Chinese Communist attack and dealt the enemy a deadly blow.The actions fought by you all, both collectively and individually on this day, were beyond praise, and it is true to say that your gallantry and sacrifice saved the divisional front from being penetrated. Your adversary was clearly confident that his intense bombardment and human mass-attack, in which he used one division (6, 000 men), would overwhelm the defenders of the now famous Point 217-Point 317 ridge line. He had failed completely and utterly, however, to appreciate that he was opposed by men, whose courage, tenacity and fighting skill was second to none - The 1st Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers. Your magnificent exploits on this fateful Sunday have, therefore, given him further proof, if such be needed, that such tactics against you are doomed to disaster, '

Corporal Devenney, commanding No. 2 section, 'A' company was once more engaged in a fierce enemy attack on the night of 5/6th April, 1952, when 'A' company repelled the enemy inflicting considerable losses at the same time.Devenney returned to the U.K. in December, 1952, where he remained for nearly three years before departing for service in Malaya during the communist emergency there, and was mentioned in despatches on 30th September, 1958, for distinguished services. His final stint of active service found him in the arid and hostile mountains of Radfan in Aden where he served for more than a year. He was discharged with the rank of Staff Sergeant on the 31st March, 1968, after a most distinguished career involving no less than five wars or campaigns in which he was twice decorated.