Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A well-documented post-War ‘Palestine’ M.B.E. group of six awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel J. B. Powell, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, who served in the Army Kinema Section in Palestine, and subsequently as Ordnance Executive Officer with the Control Commission for Germany

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type breast badge, silver, in Royal Mint case of issue; 1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1945-48 (44195 W.O. Cl.1. J. B. Powell. R.A.O.C.); Army L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 2nd issue, Regular Army (44195 W.O. Cl.1. J. B. Powell. R.A.O.C.) good very fine (6) £500-£700

M.B.E. London Gazette 7 January 1949:
‘For gallant and distinguished services in Palestine during the period 27th September 1946 to 26 March 1947.’

Jack Baden Powell was born on 15 December 1912 and attested for the Royal Army Service Corps as a Boy Soldier on 15 February 1927. After a period of home service he was stationed in the late 1930s in Singapore, where he was a member of the Singapore Coronation Parade for the Coronation of H.M. King George VI in 1937. Returning home, it is probable that he served during the Second World War with the British Expeditionary Force prior to the retreat from Dunkirk in 1940, before he transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps on 1 October 1942. He served with the R.A.O.C. on Home Service as a Sub-Conductor, being awarded the General Headquarters Home Forces Certificate of Appreciation on 5 January 1943, and was advanced Warrant Officer Class I in 1945. Post-War, he saw extensive service in Palestine during the Jewish Revolt, and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his services with the Army Kinema Section, which was responsible for showing films and news bulletins to the troops; as a consequence he would have travelled widely over Palestine at the time of the formation of the state of Israel. Whilst in Palestine he was awarded his Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. His photograph album also indicates that he was present in Jerusalem around the time of the bombing of the King David Hotel.

Powell subsequently served with the Control Commission for Germany, and was commissioned Lieutenant and Ordnance Executive Officer on 30 October 1950. He was promoted Captain on 16 March 1954; Major on 15 March 1960, and Lieutenant-Colonel on 1 September 1964. He retired on 15 December 1967.

Sold with a large archive of material, including the recipient’s Commission Document, dated 30 October 1950; Bestowal Document for the M.B.E., with named Buckingham Palace enclosure and Central Chancery notification; General Headquarters Home Forces Commander-in-Chief’s Certificate of Appreciation, named to ‘44195 Sub-Conductor J. B. Powell, Royal Army Ordnance Corps’, and dated 5 January 1943; three Army Certificates of Education; the recipient’s Control Commission for Germany British Zone Driving Licence; the recipient’s R.A.O.C. cap badge; a mother-of-pearl encrusted vesta lighter, the obverse inscribed ‘J. B. P.’, the recipient’s black armband worn in Singapore following the death of H.M. King George V; the recipient’s Soldiers Bible and New Testament; a fine photograph album, the cover inscribed ‘Souvenir from the Holy Land’, containing 56 photographs, the majority annotated, including images of the Wailing Wall, the King David Hotel, including the immediate aftermath of it having been bombed; and a group photograph of the Army Kinema Section, Royal Army Ordnance Corps; various other group photographs, including two portrait photographs of the recipient, in one of which he is wearing his medals; and various Christmas cards, military notices, letters, newspaper cuttings, and other ephemera.