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Auction: 21102 - Orders, Decorations and Medals e-Auction 3
Lot: 479

A selection of ephemera relating to Major Sidney Excell, Palestine Police and Royal Artillery, twice Mentioned-in-Despatches during the Second World War and notable for arresting Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler in May 1945

The lot comprising: a Palestine Police 'Service Register' annotated with Excell's details; a cloth-and-bullion-wire Intelligence Corps desk flag; three dog-tags (226886 Lt. S. Excell C/E); XXX Corps 1944-1945 commemorative medallion in its De Greef Bruxelles case; riband bar for the General Service Medal, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star (1st Army emblem), Italy Star, France and Germany Star, also a loose section of 1939-45 War riband with Mention-in-Despatches oakleaf; a number of officers' rank pips (8), Palestine Police epaulette badges (2), Royal Artillery officers' cap- and collar-badges (3), and assorted buttons and other badges; also thirty-four pages of copied documentation relating to the recipient, including pages from a photograph album and both 'Mentions', generally very fine, (Lot)

Sidney Excell (1906-1990), a native of Chatham in Kent, served with the Palestine Police in the 1930's before service in the British Army during the Second World War as an officer in the Royal Artillery. Twice Mentioned-in-Despatches (9 August 1945 and 4 April 1946 respectively), on 22 May 1945 he was responsible for the arrest of three suspicious individuals at Bremervorde Bridge: one of these three was subsequently identified as Heinrich Himmler, who committed suicide before he could be interrogated.
Post-war Excell returned to Palestine with the British Mandate Police, before returning to the U.K. and later working for the London Electricity Board.

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Sold for
£50

Starting price
£40