Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War 1917 ‘Hill 60, Ypres’ M.M. group of three awarded to Sapper O. Palmer, 1st Tunnelling Company, Australian Engineers, Australian Imperial Force, who was gassed, 9 April 1917, and died of Pneumonia in Belgium, 24 February 1919

Military Medal, G.V.R. (233 Sapr O. Palmer. 1/T’Lg: Coy Aust: E.); British War and Victory Medals (233 Spr. O. Palmer. 1 Tun. Coy A.I.F.) mounted for display, surname partially officially corrected on first two, nearly extremely fine (3) £700-£900

M.M. London Gazette 25 May 1917. The original recommendation states:

‘Noises in the the half-untamped Hill 60 gallery were heard and on April 5th, the Germans could be heard working a winch in some neighbouring shaft. Four days later the enemy raided the British trenches searching for mines, and blew in the entrances of some of the shallow infantry subways and captured five Australian tunnellers. The damage on the surface was extensive but, except for impeded ventilation the ‘deeps’ were intact. Twenty-five British infantrymen in one of the subways were asphyxiated by gas from the German demolition charges despite the fine efforts of Sapper Palmer and others to guide them clear. An Australian officer died as a result and several Australians were gassed in this rescue work.’

Oscar Palmer was the son of Mr F. W. Palmer of Selwyn Road, Plaistow, Essex. He resided in Temora, New South Wales, Australia, and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Cootamundra in September 1915. Palmer embarked for the Middle East with 1 Company, 1 Mining Corps in February 1916, and served with the 1st Tunnelling Company, Australian Engineers in the French theatre of war, April 1916 - May 1917. He distinguished himself during the tunnelling operations at Hill 60, Ypres (1st Tunnelling Company moved into the position in November 1916 and stayed until the Battle of Messines in June 1917) and was gassed in the process, 9 April 1917.

Palmer was on leave in the UK in January 1919, and rejoined his unit, 13 February 1919. He was admitted to No. 2 Australian Field Ambulance two days later, and transferred to No. 20 Casualty Clearing Station. Sapper Palmer died of Pneumonia, 24 February 1919, and was buried in Charleroi Communal Cemetery, Belgium.

Sold with copied service papers, a copy of Beneath Hill 60 by W. Davies and a DVD of the documentary Beneath Hill 60.