Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Private F. Satchwell, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1945-48 (14459822 Pte. F. Satchwell. A. & S.H.) with minor official corrections; Korea 1950-53, 1st issue (14459822 Pte. F. Satchwell. A. & S.H.); U.N. Korea 1950-54, unnamed as issued, nearly extremely fine (3) £400-500

Provenance: Massie Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, September 1999.

Frank Satchwell was born in Huntingdon on 11 August 1924, and was employed during the Second World War as a miner at the Littleton Colliery. He enlisted in the General Service Corps post-VE Day (as a miner in a reserved occupation he was unable to join-up during the Second World War), and was posted to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He served with the 1st Battalion in post-War Palestine, where the Battalion was active from 6 November 1945 until 15 May 1948, before returning to the U.K. Based for a time at the Depot at Fort George, he sailed for Hong Kong on 19 October 1949, and on 25 August 1950 the Battalion departed Hong Kong bound for Korea.

Satchwell served with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in Korea, and was likely recommended for a ‘Mention in Despatches’. In his book The Argylls in Korea (1952), Lieutenant-Colonel G. I. Malcolm lists Private Satchwell as having received this distinction; and in his book Marks of Courage (1991), Ashley Cunningham-Boothe also records Satchwell’s ‘M.I.D.’ Malcolm, when he was writing his history, was presumably privy to information provided by the Battalion’s Commanding Officer, Colonel Neilson, and it may be speculated therefore that Satchwell may have been recommended for a ‘Mention’, but ultimately it was not approved.

The Battalion returned to Hong Kong in April 1951, and returning to the U.K. Satchwell was discharged shortly after. In civilian life he established, with his brother, a building company called ‘Peter Rosa Ltd.’ He died in Staffordshire on 26 July 1997.