Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 17002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 328

An outstanding Second World War withdrawal from Le Havre D.S.M. group of eight awarded to Chief Petty Officer A. C. Scotcher, Royal Navy: gallant service at Le Havre aside, he survived the loss of the armed merchant cruisers Avenger and Champagne in 1917 and the Italian 'charioteer' attack on the battleship Queen Elizabeth in Alexandria in 1941

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (J. 52136 A. C. Scotcher, C.P.O., R.N.); British War and Victory Medals (J. 52136 A. C. Scotcher, Ord., R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 3rd issue, with Bar (J. 52136 A. C. Scotcher, L.S., H.M.S. Shamrock), the Great War pair polished, thus fine, the remainder very fine or better (8)

D.S.M. London Gazette 2 August 1940:

'For courage and resource in the withdrawal of troops from the neighbourhood of Le Havre.'

The original recommendation states:

'The above [two C.P.Os and two ratings, including Scotcher] were all members of the beach party at Veules and are specially recommended for their fine work under fire in assisting the embarkation of troops.'

Veules is situated to the north-east of Le Havre, about 20 kilometres from Dieppe.

Alfred Calvin Scotcher was born at Lindfield, Sussex on 19 August 1900 and entered the Royal Navy as Boy 2nd Class in March 1916.

His subsequent wartime appointments included the armed merchant cruisers H.M.S. Avenger (17 November 1916 to 7 July 1917) and H.M.S. Champagne (25 July 1917 to 13 November 1917). These dates reflect the periods he remained borne on the books of both ships, not in fact intervening events: Avenger was sunk by the U-69 on 14 June 1917 and Champagne by the U-96 on 9 October 1917.

Lucky indeed to have survived the latter's loss, Scotcher's final wartime appointment was in the cruiser Curlew, which ship survived the war.

Awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in August 1933, and advanced to Chief Petty Officer in July 1939, he was serving at the torpedo testing establishment Stokes Bay, a satellite of Vernon, on the renewal of hostilities. It was in this capacity that he was enlisted for service in the withdrawal of Allied troops from Le Havre in May-June 1940: as a Vernon hand he was likely employed ashore as a member of a naval demolition party.

Pensioned ashore on 18 August 1940, a fortnight after his D.S.M. was gazetted, Scotcher was instantly reinstated as a C.P.O. (Pens.) and, in January 1941, joined the battleship Queen Elizabeth. The bad penny was about to turn up again for, having lent valuable service off Crete in May 1941, the battleship was mined and seriously damaged by Italian frogmen in Alexandria at the year's end: nine of the ship's complement lost their lives.

Scotcher's remaining wartime appointments have yet to be made available in the public domain. However, the fact that he did not receive his D.S.M. at a Buckingham Palace investiture until March 1944 suggests he remained actively employed in the Mediterranean over an extended period.

Nor did his three close encounters with a watery grave deter his enthusiasm for a life at sea: he was awarded a Bar to his L.S. & G.C. Medal in September 1949 and finally came ashore from an appointment in the Reserve Fleet in February 1958; sold with copied service records.


Subject to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium. For more information please view Terms and Conditions for Buyers.

Sold for
£2,300