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Auction: 20001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - conducted behind closed doors
Lot: 995

(x) A Second World War campaign group of three awarded to Signalman J. D. D. Perring, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who survived the loss of the aircraft carrier Hermes when she was sunk by Japanese dive-bombers near Batticaloa

1939-45 Star; War Medal 1939-45; Africa Service Medal 1939-45, all officially impressed '69099 J. D. D. Perring', very fine (3)

John Dewar Deeble Perring was born on 14 September 1923 at Johannesburg, the elder son of John Baxter Perring of Fish Hoek, Cape Town. Educated at King Edward School, Johannesburg, and St. Andrews College, Bloemfontein, Perring joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 1 July 1941 and served from 30 January 1942 aboard the carrier Hermes, being present when she was sunk by Japanese aircraft on 9 April 1942. The events which led to her demise are graphically described in The Hermes Adventure by Rex Morgan:

'At about 10.38am the ship was attacked by Japanese dive-bombers who scored 40 direct hits within the space of 10 minutes. The Hermes became a gutted, flaming hull, and only 15 minutes after the first dive-bomber dropped from the sky the ship slipped beneath the waves. The Captain gave orders to '"Abandon Ship!" and survivors jumped into the sea with bombs bursting around them. A huge bubble of oily water rose as the ship sank and broke over the survivors. The ship was covered with thick oil which got in their eyes, mouths and wounds.'

The waters in the Bay of Bengal were warm, but the survivors found themselves clinging to wreckage in shallow seas infested with sharks and water-snakes. They were rescued five and a half hours later by the hospital ship Vita, many of the men having been badly burnt by the tropical sun. Disembarked at Colombo, the survivors - including Perring - spent many weeks and months recovering from the ordeal, aware that over 300 men had gone down with the carrier.

According to family repute Perring received 'a shower of shrapnel across his shoulders and back when jumping off the ship', being transferred to hospital in Colombo. It appears that he never returned to sea, spending the remainder of the war at shore bases in Sri Lanka and South Africa. Discharged on 13 December 1945, he later found work in the mines of South Africa before joining Delfos and Atlas Copco, manufacturers of specialist drill bits, with whom he worked 35 years. He died on 17 October 1990 at Cape Town; sold with copied service record and research, together with a copy of The Hermes Adventure, annotated 'For J. D. Perring, with the author's compliments, Rex Morgan May 1988'.


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Sold for
£210

Starting price
£50