Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

1914-15 Star (2836. Pte. H. Hett, W. Rid. R.) good very fine £80-£120

D.C.M. London Gazette 3 October 1918:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. After all his Lewis gun team had been killed or wounded, he stuck to his gun is a post single-handed, filling his empty magazines from the pouches of killed or wounded comrades, and continued to fire his gun with great effect, setting a fine example of coolness, courage, and devotion to duty. His skill and resource considerably checked the enemy advance, and enabled necessary reorganisation to take place.’

Harold Hett, a native of Oldham, Lancashire, was born in Milnsbridge, Yorkshire, and attested for the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. He served with ‘D’ Company, 1st/7th Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from April 1915, and was killed in action at Ypres on 29 April 1918. He has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.