Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five Captain R. Buley, South African Engineer Corps
1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Africa Service Medal, all officially impressed ‘123814 R. Buley’, good very fine

Five: Sapper D. J. Koekemoer, South African Engineer Corps
1939-45 Star; Africa Star, 1 clasp, 8th Army; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Africa Service Medal, all officially impressed ‘194026 D. J. Koekemoer’, old adhesive stains to reverses, good very fine

Three: Sapper A. H. McPherson, South African Engineer Corps
Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Africa Service Medal, all officially impressed ‘238354 A. H. McPherson’, minor edge bruising, good very fine (13) £120-£160

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward De Santis.

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Raymond Buley was born in Fowey, Cornwall on 26 May 1912 but later emigrated to South Africa. Appointed a Sapper in the South African Engineer Corps (S.A.E.C.) in June 1940, he was posted to 19 Divisional Park Company and deployed to Kenya in October 1940. Returning to the Union to attend a commissioning board in the summer of 1941, he was appointed a Second Lieutenant in the S.A.E.C. and, among home duties, was employed at a P.O.W. camp. Finally, in March 1944, he joined 30 Road Construction Company, S.A.E.C., in Egypt, and he remained likewise employed until returning home to take his discharge as a Captain in September 1945.

Dedrick Johannes Koekemoer was born in Johannesburg on 25 September 1923 and enlisted in the South African Engineer Corps (S.A.E.C.) in October 1941. Embarked for Egypt in April 1942, he joined a Road Construction Company and remained likewise employed in North Africa until March 1945. He was finally discharged in November 1946.

Andries Hendrik McPherson was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa on 13 March 1919 and enlisted in the Union Defence Force (Volunteers) at Johannesburg in February 1942. Drafted to the South African Engineer Corps, he was constantly in trouble for being absent without leave. Such absences reached a peak in November 1943, when he was posted as a deserter, his service record confirming that he was at large until apprehended in January 1944. Swiftly embarked for Egypt, he was held in detention there in the period February-June 1944, prior to returning to duty. Discharged back in South Africa in October 1945, McPherson was not entitled to the Africa Star, having arrived in Egypt outside the qualifying dates.