Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Irish Merchant Marine Medal awarded to R. Grimes, a merchant seaman who was killed when the S.S. Kyleclare was torpedoed by a German U-Boat on 23 February 1943

Ireland, Free State, Merchant Marine Service Medal 1939-46, with 3 Additional Award Bars and integral top riband bar, good very fine, rare £600-£800

Dix Noonan Webb, September 2002.

Only 508 Merchant Marine Medals were ever awarded, 299 of which had no clasp, 122 with one clasp, 34 with two clasps, and 58 with three clasps. As the award criteria for clasps to the Merchant Marine Medal was two years service per bar between 1939 and 1946, the fact that Grimes died in 1943 would suggest that he could have qualified for no more than two clasps.

The Steamship Kyleclare was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-456 whilst about 100 miles west of the mouth of the River Douro, Portugal on 23 February 1943. Eighteen men, including the Captain were drowned. Grimes is confirmed on the roll of the casualties for the Kyleclare. The Commander of the U-456, Kapitan Leutnant Max Teichert, later claimed that he could not see the Kyleclare’s neutral markings as she was low in the water, listing to starboard and his periscope was awash. Just a few weeks later the U-456 was herself sunk with all hands in the mid-Atlantic by a Canadian escort vessel.

Sold with an original photograph of recipient in uniform; and two original letters to his widow, the first from the Limerick Steam Ship Company Limited, dated 4 March 1943, ‘We very much regret to inform you that the above mentioned vessel [S.S. Kyleclare] is considerably overdue, and we have no news of her since leaving her last port. We are therefore gravely concerned as to her whereabouts...’; the other from the Department of Industry and Commerce (Transport and Marine Branch), dated 3 June 1943, ‘I am directed by the Minister for Industry and Commerce to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 23rd ultimo enquiring as to the safety of your husband who was serving on the missing S.S. Kyleclare, and to inform you that no news regarding the ship has come to hand.’, the letters, photograph and medal all mounted on a display board overlapping one another, causing some damage to the second letter.