Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Victory Medal 1914-19 (5) (1813 Pte. A. W. Newman, R. Guernsey L.I.; 91264 Gnr. J. H. Desperques, R.A.; 91695 Dvr. J. de J. Langlois, R.A.; 324617 Spr. H. Zass, R.E.; 32092 Pte. E. R. Nurse, K.R.R.C.), this last with edge bruising, otherwise generally very fine or better (5) £180-220

Alfred W. Newman was wounded by a gunshot in the thigh in April 1918 (Guernsey Weekly Press refers but erroneously gives his first initial as ‘C.’).

John H. Desperques served in the 9th Divisional Ammunition Column, a unit formed from officers and men of the Royal Guernsey Artillery and Engineers who volunteered for overseas service at the same time as the infantry volunteers (Diex Aix: God Help Us, The Guernseymen Who Marched Away 1914-18, by Major Edwin Parks, refers). Desperques formed part of the 2nd Draft.

James de Jersey Langlois also served in the 9th Divisional Ammunition Column (Diex Aix: God Help Us, The Guernseymen Who Marched Away 1914-18, by Major Edwin Parks, refers). He formed part of the 4th Draft.

Harry Zass, who served in 245 (Guernsey) Army Troops Company, R.E., was onetime, too, a member of the Royal Defence Corps (No. 63120), the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry (No. 1999) and the North Staffordshire Regiment (No. 35682): ‘In 1918 some of the soldiers of the Royal Engineers company, formed when the Militia was suspended, were transferred to a new unit, 245 (Guernsey) Army Troops Company, Royal Engineers, under the command of Major J. R. N. Kirkwood, D.S.O., R.E. They were joined by a number of men transferred into the Engineers from 1 R.G.L.I. and some from the Alderney Militia’ (Diex Aix: God Help Us, The Guernseymen Who Marched Away 1914-18, by Major Edwin Parks, refers). Zass is mentioned in the unit’s War Diary, on one occasion for being hospitalised in May 1918.

Ernest W. Nurse also served in the Details Battalion of the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry (Diex Aix: God Help Us, The Guernseymen Who Marched Away 1914-18, by Major Edwin Parks, refers).