Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

Pair: Private F. Greathead, Northumberland Fusiliers, who was killed in action on the Western Front on 28 April 1917
British War and Victory Medals (47594 Pte. F. Greathead. North’d Fus.) both with named card boxes of issue, with named Record Office enclosure in transmission envelope addressed to ‘Mrs. L. G. Greathead, 155 Albert Road, Aston Manor, Birmingham’; Memorial Plaque (Frank Greathead) with Buckingham Palace enclosure, in card envelope of issue, with outer transmission envelope similarly addressed, extremely fine

Three: Sergeant K. G. Greathead, No. 576 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was killed in action when his Lancaster was shot down during Operation Thunderclap, the great raid on Dresden, 14 February 1945
1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Air Council enclosure and annotated medal transmission slip, extremely fine (6) £240-£280

Frank Greathead was born in Birmingham and attested for the Northumberland Fusiliers at Newport, Monmouthshire. He served with the 26th (Tyneside Irish) Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front, and was killed in action on 28 April 1917, aged 34. He is buried in Brown’s Copse Cemetery, Roeux, France.

His medals were sent to his widow Laura Greathead, née Dixon.

Kenneth George Greathead was born in 1914, the son of Frank and Laura Greathead, and served as a Sergeant (Flight Engineer) during the Second World War with No. 576 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He was killed in action on the night of 13-14 February 1945, when his Lancaster was shot down during Operation Thunderclap, the great raid on Dresden, and is buried alongside his entire crew in Durnbach War Cemetery, Bavaria, Germany.