Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Second World War Normandy D-Day-Plus-1 M.C. group of seven awarded to Captain N. J. D. Bishop, Royal Artillery: he was subsequently killed in action

Military Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated ‘1944’, with its Royal Mint case of issue; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals, mounted court-style, as worn by the recipient’s widow, extremely fine (7) £1000-1200

M.C. London Gazette 31 August 1944. The original recommendation states:

‘On 7 June 1944, an outpost position of a battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, south of Conde sur Seulles, was attacked by an enemy force of infantry and armoured cars.

Captain Bishop, manning an observation post in support of the company concerned, immediately went forward to the threatened point. On arrival he found that the main enemy advance was up a sunken road on which observation could only be obtained from the road itself.

Without hesitation, Captain Bishop entered the road and advanced up it to a position in which he could observe. There he remained throughout the engagement, controlling the fire of his battery.

With complete disregard for his personal safety, Captain Bishop stood up in the road itself for considerable periods, in order to better observe his fire.

The attack was checked and finally broken up by the fire of the guns, but not before the leading enemy had reached a point within 200 yards of Captain Bishop himself.’

Neville John Dennington Bishop was killed in action in Normandy on 12 August 1944, while serving in 90th Field Regiment (City of London - T.A.), Royal Artillery. He was buried in the St. Manieu British Cemetery, near Bayeux.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including official illuminated Memorial Scroll in the name of ‘Captain N. J. D. Bishop, Royal Regiment of Artillery’, folded, with assorted ink inscriptions to reverse; the recipient’s diary for the period August 1942 to February 1943, covering active service in North Africa, and latterly with extensive entries, the whole written on the pages of an old 1940 diary; War Office letter addressed to his widow, informing her of the announcement of the M.C.; Central Chancery letter addressed to her regarding a Buckingham Palace investiture on 9 April 1946; another War Office communication addressed to her regarding the recipient’s place of burial, dated 19 July 1946; a pre-war portait photograph of the recipient and two modern day ones of his gravestone in the St. Manieu British Cemetery, near Bayeux; a short printed history of the 90th Field Regiment, R.A.; and a ring taken from an Italian P.O.W. at the end of the War, with accompanying handwritten history from H. A. P. Blamey, M.C., presumably a fellow officer who gifted it to Bishop’s widow.