Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Memorial Plaque (3) (Willie Coetzee; Robert Henry Paxton; Frederick George Pitfield) last in card envelope, the first polished with a small wire hook soldered to reverse for display purposes, generally very fine and better (3) £120-£160

This lot is to be sold as part of a special collection, The Bernard Harris Collection of Medals to the 2nd Regiment, South African Infantry.

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Willie Coetzee was born in Oudtshoorn, Cape Province, in 1896, and attested for the 1st South African Infantry at Potchefstroom on 31 March 1917. Posted to the Western Front as Private in the 2nd Regiment, he was killed in action on 11 April 1918. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.

Robert Henry Paxton was born in Durban in 1884 and attested for the 2nd South African Infantry at Potchefstroom on 1 December 1915. Disembarked at Rouen on 27 July 1916, he was killed in action on 9 April 1917 and is buried at Roclincourt Valley Cemetery, France.

Frederick George Pitfield was born in 1897, the son of Mrs. Kathleen Pitfield of 82 Cordile Street, Plumstead, Kent. He embarked at Cape Town for England per H.M.T. Durham Castle on 23 March 1917, and is recorded as suffering a severe gunshot wound to the neck and shoulder whilst serving as a Private in the 2nd Regiment of Infantry on 24 October 1917. He later died of wounds on 12 November 1917 and is buried at Richmond Cemetery, Surrey.

Sold with copied service records for all recipients.