Auction Catalogue

6 & 7 December 2017

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

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Lot

№ 1185 x

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7 December 2017

Hammer Price:
£150

Five: Private J. H. Eyre, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment, taken Prisoner of War in North Africa, 1943

1939-45 Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, 1st Army; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Efficiency Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial (4977590. Pte. J. H. Eyre. Foresters.) the Stars and EM heavily polished, therefore fine, the Defence and War Medals better (5) £80-120

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Prisoners of War.

View A Collection of Medals to Prisoners of War

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Collection

James Henry Eyre was born on 2 November 1921 and attested for the Territorial Army on 24 July 1939. He served with the 2nd/5th Battalion, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment during the Second World War with the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1940, and was subsequently evacuated from Dunkirk. He then proceeded with the Regiment to North Africa, and was taken prisoner of war at Sedjenane near Tunis in February 1943, when his Battalion’s position was overwhelmed by a German Parachute Engineer Battalion. Held first at Campo 98 at San Giuseppe Jato in Sicily until May 1943, he was subsequently transferred first to Campo 53 at Sforzacosta near Macerata, and then to Stalag 7A at Moosberg, Bavaria. In November 1943 he was transferred a third time to Stalag 17A at Kaisersteinbruck in Austria, and remained here until the camp was liberated on 1 May 1945. During captivity he suffered from Malaria, Pleurisy, and Gastritis, and was forced to work by the Italians before his wound had healed. He was discharged from the Army on 5 March 1946 as ‘ceasing to fulfil Army physical requirements’, no doubt partly caused through his privations as a prisoner of war, and subsequently emigrated to New Zealand.