Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second War 1940 B.E.M. group of five awarded to Chief Yeoman of Signals W. D. Winzer, Royal Navy

British Empire Medal, (Military) G.VI.R., 1st issue (C.Y.S. William D. Winzer, P/J.28670.) minor official correction to surname; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, good very fine (5) £240-£280

B.E.M. London Gazette 1 January 1941:

‘Chief Yeoman William Douglas Winzer (Pensioner), H.M.S. “Edinburgh Castle”, was one of the pioneer staff who arrived at Freetown in mid-September. For months he and another Chief Yeoman of Signals worked in the cable office from early morning until late at night with only short times off for meals; coding, typing, distributing and assisting in every way at the Shore Signal Station. During the absence of the Signal Boatswain (which coincided with the arrival of the “Edinburgh Castle”) they managed the rapidly expanding Prince of Wales S.D.O. work very efficiently. For eleven months Winzer and his partner showed incessant keenness and interest in all that they were called upon to do.’

H.M.S. Edinburgh Castle was an old ocean liner that had previously been requisitioned by the Royal Navy for service during the Great War. She was due to be scrapped in 1939, but was once again requisitioned and served as an accommodation ship for survivors of sunken ships at Freetown, Sierra Leone.