Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second War ‘Assault on Rangoon 1945’ D.S.C. group of six attributed to Commander D. N. Penfold, Royal Navy, who took part in the Operations in Norway 1939-45, the Normandy Landings, and was additionally Mentioned in Despatches for the hazardous assaults on the Arakan coast in March 1945

Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated 1945; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, 1 clasp, France and Germany; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf, mounted as worn, very fine (6) £1,200-£1,600

D.S.C. London Gazette 20 November 1945: ‘For courage, skill and devotion to duty in the sweeing of the approaches to the Rangoon river during the operations which led to the recapture of Rangoon in May 1945.’

M.I.D. London Gazette: 21 August 1945: ‘lLieutenant, H.M.S. White Bear.’

C-in-C, The Nore’s Commendation: 6 March 1953: ‘Flood Reilef Operations - February 1953. Lieutenant-Commander D. N. Penfold, D.S.C., R.N. For initiative and presence of mind. H.M.S. Sharpshooter was in dry dock at Chatham on the night of 31st Januari/1st February when the dock became flooded. In his capacity as Commanding Officer he took prompt action which undoubtedly prevented the ship from receiving serious damage.’

David Neil Penfold was born on 4 September 1913, and joined the Merchant Service (T. & Y. Harrison Line) as a Cadet on 26 August 1930, passed his 2nd Mate’s certificate on 1 January 1934, and joined the Royal Naval Reserve as a Sub Lieutenant. He passed his 1st Mate’s certificate in July 1937 and joined the Royal Navy as a Probationary Acting Lieutenant on 4 April 1938. His seniority as a Lieutenant was later backdated to 4 September 1937. He was appointed Assistant Surveyor 4th Class on 8 December 1938, and served in several vessels on survey work. On 19 September 1939 he joined H.M.S. Stork as Navigating Officer escorting convoys on the East Coast, and took part in the Norwegian campaign in 1939-40. Between 1940 and 1943 he resumed his surveying role until on 25 June 1943, he moved as First Lieutenant to H.M.S. Franklin, carrying out surveys in Scapa Flow, Rosyth, and later taking part in the Normandy landings and surveying Cherbourg. In October 1944, he moved to H.M.S. White Bear in Colombo, Ceylon, carrying out surveys at Chittagong, and along the Burma coast until, after surveying various rehabilitation ports following V.J. Day, the ship continued surveys along the Malayan coast. He was promoted to Acting Lieutenant Commander on 1 May 1945, and was confirmed as a Lieutenant Commander on 4 September 1945. He was Mentioned in Despatches for piloting a number of landing craft ‘up a 40 mile river in the vicinity of Ramree Island in the dark’, though the official record states that this was for ‘bravery, skill and determination shown during the hazardous assaults on the Arakan coast in March 1945’. After the war ended, he continued in H.M.S. White Bear surveying off Malaya. It was during this period whilst working with the minesweepers in the operation to open up Rangoon that he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, announced in the London Gazette on 20 November 1945. His was one of three D.S.C.’s awarded for minesweeping to make a safe channel in the approaches to Rangoon within 48 hours, and shortly before the assault on Rangoon, in the few weeks before the Japanese surrendered. In September 1948 he joined the Royal Research Ship John Biscoe and surveyed at Deception Island (in the South Shetland Islands) and in the Antarctic during the southern summer of 1948-49. Penfold Point in Whalers Bay, Deception Island, commemorates his part in this work. Afterwards he took charge of the Survey Training Unit in Chatham Barracks in July 1949 for a year. He rejoined H.M.S. John Biscoe in September 1950, to carry out surveys in the Antarctic, especially in the vicinity of Port Lockroy, and in the Falkland Islands during the southern summer of 1950-51.
On 26 August 1951 he took command of H.M.S. Sharpshooter and, as a Charge Surveyor, carried out surveys in the Wash and in the Firth of Forth, and then came ashore to serve in the Hydrographic Department at Cricklewood from 10 February 1953. He received a Commendation from the Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, for his initiative and presence of mind” during the Flood Relief Operations in February 1953, when the dry dock in which H.M.S. Sharpshooter was docked became flooded. He was promoted to Acting Commander in June 1955, retiring on 4 September 1958, as an Honorary Commander. He continued working in the Admiralty Hydrographic Department until 1976 when he finally retired. He died in May 1991 aged 77.

Sold with matching mounted miniature medal group, and uniform ribbon bars, together a second mounted miniature medal group but including N.G.S. for Palestine 1945-48, to which medal he is possibly entitled but not shown in his record of service, and accompanied by the following original documentation: notification letter from the Admiralty confirming the award of the D.S.C., dated 27 November 1945; Mention in Despatches Certificate, named to Lieutenant David Noel Penfold, R.N, H.M.S. White Bear, 21 August 1945; an untitled photograph of a boy of about 12 dressed in military uniform – possibly David Penfold himself as a cadet; his Gunnery Certificate dated 16 September 1938, for which he received a 2nd Class pass; Commander in Chief’s Commendation Certificate, dated February 1953; annual officers’ reports by the Captain of H.M.S. Jason, dated 19 September 1939, and of H.M.S. Franklin, dated 17 January 1944; congratulatory letter on behalf of the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence, on his retirement, in September 1976; a copy Curriculum Vitae prepared by himself recording his Merchant Navy and Royal Navy Service including his ships and his appointment to the Admiralty Hydrographic Department at Cricklewood and Taunton, up to 1976; several other related and family documents and extensive copied research.