Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Warrant Officer Class 1 B. W. Bathe, Army Service Corps

Russia, Medal for Zeal, Nicholas II, small silver (197061 Sergt. B. W. Bathe, A.S.C.), ring and straight bar suspension, on ‘St. Stanislaus’ ribbon; France, Medal of Honour, Ministry of War, bronze, unnamed, very fine (2) £100-140

B. W. Bathe, Principal of the Newport Business Training School, joined the Army in December 1915, serving in the Army Service Corps. In September 1916 he was attached to the Staff of General Dessins, Chief of the Russian Mission to Great Britain. For his services in this capacity he was awarded the Russian Medal for Zeal in March 1917. He was later sent to France as a Clerk to the Assistant Military Attaché, Paris, with the British Military Mission and was promoted Warrant Officer Class 1. When in Paris, during March 1918, he plunged fully dressed into the Seine and at risk to his own life, saved a French national from drowning. For this deed he was awarded the French Medal of Honour and the Royal Humane Society’s Testimonial on Vellum. He was hospitalized as a result of the exposure and strain in performing this act of gallantry. Sold with newspaper cutting entitled ‘Newport Hero’.