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Auction: 18001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 346

A scarce East Africa casualty's pair awarded to Private J. W. Francis, 12th South African Infantry, who was killed in action at Lumi River in March 1916

British War and Bi-lingual Victory Medals (Pte. J. W. Francis, 12th S.A.I.), extremely fine (2)

Joseph Worral Francis enlisted in the South African Expeditionary Force in December 1915 and was assigned to the 12th South African Infantry. Embarked for East Africa at Durban in H.M.S. Armadale in February 1916, he was landed at Kilindini in the following month.

On 7 March 1916, General Smuts bridged the Lumi River, 10 miles north of Taveta, and on the following day, by fine strategy and hard fighting, forced the Germans from the swamps and forests that they had been fortifying for some 18 months. It was during the course of these operations, on the 8th, that Francis was killed in action. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Worrall Francis of 'Mirembi', Church Street, Wynberg, Cape Province, he is buried in Taveta Military Cemetery; sold with copied research.

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Sold for
£70