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Auction: 18001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 584

(x) A most unusual Second World War Dunkirk D.C.M. group of five awarded to Battery Sergeant-Major J. T. Carr, 2nd Surrey Regiment, Royal Artillery

In a scene strikingly similar to one portrayed in the recently released film 'Dunkirk', he was decorated for his gallantry below deck in the destroyer H.M.S. Grafton when she was torpedoed off Dunkirk in May 1940

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.VI.R. (1052363 Sjt. J. T. Carr, R.A.); 1939-45 Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Army L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue, Regular Army (1052363 Sjt. J. T. Carr, R.A.), mounted as worn, naming on the first and last scratched and worn, contact marks and polished, nearly very fine or better (6)


D.C.M. London Gazette 27 October 1940. The original recommendation states:

'This N.C.O. was in H.M.S. Grafton on 29 May 1940, when the ship was struck by a torpedo in Dunkirk harbour. He was among a party of troops of various units between the decks. When the torpedo struck there was a rush for the nearest exit. Sergeant Carr immediately took charge and by his cool behaviour stopped the panic and kept the men quiet between decks until the order was given to embark on the rescue ship. Sergeant Carr then assisted the wounded men and did all in his power to help the evacuation of the ship. His final act before leaving the Grafton was to go back below decks and rescue a wounded man who had been forgotten.'

Jack Theobald Carr was born at Harwich, Essex on 1 July 1903 and enlisted in the Royal Artillery in September 1921. He remained employed on the Home Establishment in the period leading up to the Second World War and was advanced to Lance-Sergeant in the 2nd Survey Regiment, R.A. in September 1939.

Subsequently embarked with his regiment for service in the B.E.F., Carr was advanced to Sergeant in January 1940 and participated in the retreat to Dunkirk. He was evacuated from the beaches at Bray-Dunes on 29 May 1940, when he was seemingly among the lucky ones to get aboard the destroyer H.M.S. Grafton. As it transpired, it was a short-lived passage, for in the early morning of the 29th, Grafton, under Commander Cecil Robinson, R.N., came upon the sinking destroyer H.M.S. Wakeful, which had been hit by a German E-Boat. The drifters Comfort and Nautilus were also at the scene, in addition to the minesweeper Lydd.

Grafton went alongside the Wakeful and was in the process of taking men off when she was herself hit by two torpedoes. The first blew her stern off and the second exploded in the bridge area, killing Commander Robinson and three of his officers; so, too, some 35 army officers who were crammed into the ship's wardroom. Amidst these harrowing scenes, the soldiers remaining below deck made a rush for the nearest exit:

'Sergeant Carr immediately took charge and by his cool behaviour stopped the panic and kept the men quiet between decks until the order was given to embark on the rescue ship. He then assisted the wounded men and did all in his power to help the evacuation of the ship. His final act before leaving the Grafton was to go back below decks and rescue a wounded man who had been forgotten.'

Whilst Carr was busy restoring order and rescuing the wounded - and owing to the confusion caused by the detonation of the two torpedoes - the drifter Comfort was mistaken for a German E-Boat: she was engaged and rammed by the Lydd and went down with just five survivors.

After taking off as many men as possible from the Grafton - among them the gallant Carr - Lydd returned to Dover. Later in the day the destroyer Ivanhoe arrived at the scene and, after an attempt at taking the stricken ship in tow failed, and in consideration of the danger posed by remaining in the area, Ivanhoe's Captain ordered that the Grafton be finished off by torpedo.

Carr remained employed on the Home Establishment for the remainder of the war, serving at the R.A's School of Survey. He had been awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in AO 193 of 1940 and was finally discharged in the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2 and Battery Sergeant-Major in August 1945. He died at Manningtree, Essex in July 1984; sold with copied research.


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Sold for
£2,600