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Auction: 17002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 431

Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (J. 106652 G. W. Gulley, A.B., H.M.S. Drake), contact marks, better than very fine

George Walter Gulley was born in Plymouth, Devon in December 1906 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in December 1922. Advanced to Able Seaman in July 1925, he was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in November 1939 and joined the destroyer H.M.S. Hearty in January 1940: he was still serving in Hearty - renamed Hesperus - in the summer of 1941.

In that period, under Commander Donald MacIntyre, R.N. - later the winner of three D.S.Os and the D.S.C. for his anti-U-boat achievements - Hesperus served in the 9th Destroyer Flotilla. Following the German occupation of Denmark, she and her consort, Havant, were assigned to cover the British occupation of the Faroe Islands in mid-April 1940. In the following month, as part of the Norwegian operations, Hesperus ferried ashore elements of the Scots Guards to Mo and Bodo and was badly damaged by a series of near misses from Ju. 87s on the 15th.

The Flotilla having transferred to the Western Approaches in November 1940, Hesperus undertook Atlantic escort duties and rescued survivors from the torpedoed armed merchant cruisers Patroclus and Laurentic north-west of Ireland in the same month. In March 1941, Hesperus joined Force 'H' at Gibraltar, from whence she acted as an escort in Malta operations "Tiger" and "Splice" in May, and "Tracer" in June. Gulley was appointed an Acting Petty Officer in May 1942; sold with copied service record.


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Sold for
£95