Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Three: Corporal Driver W. H. Heal, Royal Air Force, late Armoured Car Section, Royal Naval Air Service

1914-15 Star (F. 1268 A.M.1, R.N.A.S.); British War and Victory Medals (F. 1268 L.M., R.N.A.S.) very fine or better (3) £100-120

William Horace Heal, who was born at Richmond, Surrey in August 1895 and by profession a ‘motor driver’, enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service in November 1914. Not surprisingly, given his civilian employment, his service record reveals that he was originally appointed a P.O.M. 1 (E.) in Armoured Cars, but he was re-graded as an Air Mechanic 1 in September 1915 and appointed a Leading Mechanic in October 1916. His record also reveals that he was allocated ‘For Service in Land Operations’ and one such posting would appear to be the Zanzibar depot of the Cape baseHyacinth in 1917, possibly while attached to the strength of ‘Squadn. No. 8’.

Posted back to Crystal Palace from Zanzibar in April 1918, on the establishment of the R.A.F., Heal was finally discharged in December 1921, latterly having served as a Corporal and ‘Driver, Petrol’; sold with an original wartime ‘carte postale’ depicting several R.N.A.S. personnel, one of them believed to be the recipient.