Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Signalman J. R. Condie, Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, who was killed in action when H.M.C.S. Spikenard was torpedoed by U-136 and sank south of Iceland on 10 February 1942

1939-45 Star, this a slightly later issue; Atlantic Star; Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, with overseas clasp; War Medal 1939-45, Canadian issue in silver; Canadian Memorial Cross, G.V.R. (J. R. Condie Signalman. R.C.N.V.R.) nearly extremely fine (5) £180-£220

James Ritchie Condie was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on 23 January 1923 and enlisted there for the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve in May 1940. He served during the Second World War as a Signalman in the corvette H.M.C.S. Spikenard, but was killed in action when that ship, as part of Convoy SC.67 en route from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Londonderry, was torpedoed by U-136 and sank south of Iceland on 10 February 1942, with the loss of 57 lives. There were only 8 survivors. Condie is commemorated on the Halifax Memorial, Canada.

Sold with a photographic image of the recipient and copied research.

Note: The first 5,000 or so Canadian Memorial Crosses issued to Canadian personnel who died during the Second World War were from residual Great War stock, bearing George V’s cypher ‘GRI’; subsequent issues bore George VI’s cypher ‘GviR’.