Orders, Decorations and Medals

Indian Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (Jemadar Diwan Ali Khan, Aden Troop) edge bruise, otherwise very fine and rare to this unit

Honours and Awards Indian Army 1914-21 shows just five IDSM’s awarded to this unit.
The Aden Troop was a small composite force consisting of a Camel Company and an Infantry Company, each of which in peacetime had as few as two British officers and fifty or sixty sowars and sepoys on their strengths. All ranks were volunteers from a variety of Indian Army regiments who chose to serve a term of duty in Aden. The Troop was engaged in operations against the Turks in 1915-16 when they made a determined effort to occupy Aden and Perim Island until, in 1917, Lawrence and his ‘Arab Army’ obliged the Turks to withdraw from most of Arabia. The Troop was disbanded in 1919 (Ref Regiments and Corps of the British Empire and Commonwealth 1758-1993 by Roger Perkins).