Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Six: Bombardier A. W. Davidson, Royal Artillery

1939-45 Star; Africa Star, 1 copy clasp, 8th Army; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Efficiency Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial (864993. Bmbr. A. W. Davidson. R.A.) mounted as worn, minor official corrections to last, very fine (6) £50-£70

Austin William Davidson was born in 1913 and attested for the Royal Artillery in 1937. He served during the Second War as a Sergeant-Fitter with the 299th Battery, 75th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery as part of the 51st Highland Division and took part in the bitter fighting at St. Valery-en-Caux, France in 1940 before succeeding in escaping the German encirclement and arriving back in England via Le Havre and Cherbourg. In April 1950, Davidson, together with two men of the 5th Gordon Highlanders who had both been taken prisoner at St. Valery, were involved in the transit to France of the Aberdeen granite used for the memorial to the fallen of the 51st (Highland) Division which was then erected at St. Valery. Apropos of this The Aberdeen Press and Journal of 14 April 1950 reported the following:

‘Two lorries loaded with the 51st (Highland) Division memorial and the two granite pillars for the gateway to the military cemetery at St. Valery-en-Caux left the yard of John Fyfe, Ltd., Seaforth Road, Aberdeen, yesterday on the first stage of the journey to France. The memorial, which weighs fifteen tons and will be erected on the cliffs at St. Valery, was placed on one vehicle, and the other was loaded with granite setts for the base of the monument, the two pillars, and the gate carved from oak grown at Aboyne. The drivers of the lorries are Mr Alexander Duncan, 62 Abbotswell Crescent, Kincorth and Mr Austin Davidson, 26 Causeway-end, with Mr Alexander Sim, traffic manager of British Road Services Unit B 53, in charge. The three men took part in the bitter fighting at St. Valery in 1940, while serving with the 51st (Highland) Division. Mr Sim and Mr Duncan were captured and spent five years in captivity.’

Davidson transferred to the Z (T) reserve on 19 January 1946 and later served with the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers from 1 October 1951. He died in Wycombe, Buckinghamshire in 1996.

Sold with a Royal Artillery shoulder title.