Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Lieutenant W. W. Steel, King’s Own Scottish Borderers, who was killed in action at El Alamein on 19 January 1943

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine (3187517 Pte. W. W. Steel K.O.S.B.) number partially officially corrected; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, 8th Army; War Medal 1939-45, nearly extremely fine (4) £240-£280

William Walker Steel was born in Glasgow in 1917 and attested for the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, serving with them in the ranks in Palestine from 1937 to 1939, and then later during the Second World War with the British Expeditionary Force, being evacuated during the retreat to Dunkirk.

Commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 5th (Dumfriesshire) Battalion on 14 January 1941, Steel proceed with the 51st Highland Division to Egypt, and was killed in action in the fighting near El Alamein on 19 January 1943. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt.