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Auction: 18003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 597

'The next day I had only one N.C.O. left in the Platoon, a Corporal who was not suitable to be a Sergeant. So, after an argument, I managed to get Private Stephenson to be my Sergeant instead of the Corporal who retired to the rear.

Stephenson had been Officers' Mess Sergeant in the South Staffordshire depot but he wanted action, which was refused, so he collected the Christmas turkey too late to be cooked! He therefore joined us a Private. He was the greatest support I ever had. Unfortunately, he was killed by a sniper in Normandy.'

The wartime recollections of Captain W. M. McFarlan, M.C., Gordon Highlanders, refer.

An outstanding Second World War battle of El Alamein immediate D.C.M. group of five awarded to Sergeant J. Stephenson, Gordon Highlanders

Displaying quite outstanding courage and coolness, he stalked and shot two enemy snipers, the second of them with a Tommy gun in a face-to-face encounter of an undeniably hair-raising kind

A much respected N.C.O., he went on to undertake a spate of intelligence gathering patrols behind enemy lines; he may have been likewise employed when himself shot dead by a sniper in France in August 1944

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.VI.R. (5046681 A. Sjt. J. Stephenson, Gordons); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, 8th Army; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45, good very fine (5)


The Gordon Highlanders won 17 Distinguished Conduct Medals in the Second World War, this example being unique for El Alamein.

D.C.M. London Gazette 14 January 1943. The original recommendation states:

'On the night of 27 October 1942, Acting Sergeant Stephenson located an enemy sniper and, accompanied by an officer, stalked and killed him. The following morning Acting Sergeant Stephenson discovered that another sniper had moved up to the same position and was firing at the company on his right. Without hesitation, and regardless of his own safety, Acting Sergeant Stephenson jumped for his trench and crawled across 100 yards of open, bullet swept ground, and shot the sniper with a Tommy gun. This was in broad daylight and despite the fact the sniper continued to fire at him.'

James Stephenson was serving in the 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders at the time of the above cited deeds at El Alamein in October 1942.

Stephenson's platoon commander, Captain William McFarlan, M.C., commanding 11 Platoon, 'B' Company, later submitted an unpublished manuscript to the Gordon Highlanders Museum, prior to his death in 2003; the manuscript contains several mentions of Sergeant Stephenson. By way of example, he refers to Stephenson's good work in a spate of desert night patrols, daring work that took them behind the enemy's forward positions. Indeed he deliberately chose Stephenson - and a Private Laurie - to accompany him on such patrols, for 'we three knew and trusted each others' moves.'

Sadly, as cited above, Stephenson himself fell victim to a sniper's bullet in France on 23 August 1944. Aged 31 years, he left a widow, Mary Ann Stephenson of Lisburn, Co. Antrim. He is buried in St. Desir War Cemetery, Calvados, France.


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