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Auction: 17002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 388

A Second World War minesweeping operations D.S.C. and Bar attributed to Lieutenant-Commander A. D. Parkinson, Royal Naval Reserve: first decorated for mine clearance work in the Thames estuary, he won a Bar for like services off the coasts of Holland, Belgium and France in the summer of 1940

Distinguished Service Cross, G.VI.R., hallmarks for London 1939, with Second Award Bar, the reverse of the Cross privately engraved, 'Lt. A. D. Parkinson, R.N.R.' and dated '1940', the reverse of the Bar officially dated '1940'; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star, clasp, North Africa; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, good very fine or better (6)

D.S.C. London Gazette 11 July 1940:

'For good services in the Royal Navy since the outbreak of war.'

Bar to D.S.C. London Gazette 3 September 1940:

'For bravery, skill and enterprise in minesweeping operations off the coasts of Holland, Belgium and France.'

Arthur Douglas Parkinson was appointed a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve (R.N.R.) in December 1939, when he joined the Sheerness minesweeping establishment Wildfire; records held in The National Archives confirm he had earlier witnessed active service as a young R.N.R. officer in the Great War.

Parkinson's subsequent part in mine clearance operations in the Thames estuary aside, he is credited by Mill Hill School's website of having carried out equally gallant work at Ostend, Le Havre and on the Scheldt. Advanced to Lieutenant-Commander in September 1940, his later wartime appointments included Scapa and the Shetlands, in addition to service off Arromanches at the time of the Normandy landings.


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Sold for
£1,100