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Auction: 22002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 192

(x) A 1940 D.S.M. group of five awarded to Petty Officer T. M. McMahon, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, who was decorated for gallantry aboard H.M.S. Whitley

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R., swivel suspension (BD/X. 785 T. M. McMahon. P.O. H.M.S. Whitley.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R. (BD/X.785 T. M. McMahon. P.O. R.N.V.R.), mounted as worn, good very fine (5)

D.S.M. London Gazette 27 August 1940. The original recommendation - for the period of 12-19 May 1940, when Whitley was sunk - states:

'Showed great ability, coolness and devotion to duty in controlling the fire of No. 1 gun, after bombs had been dropped which separated his from higher control.'

Thomas Martin McMahon earned his D.S.M. whilst serving in the 1,100 tonne Whitley, which was originally intended to be named Whitby, but a spelling error put paid to that. She began the Second World War escorting convoys in the North Sea along the east coast of Great Britain, which she continued through April 1940. While escorting Convoy FN 12 from the Thames Estuary to the Forth Estuary on 12 January 1940, she assisted in driving off a German air attack.

In May 1940, Whitley was transferred to Dover Command and placed at the disposal of the French Navy for operations in support of Allied ground operations in France and Belgium. She was thus engaged on 19 May 1940 when a German dive-bomber attack badly damaged her two nautical miles (3.8 km) off Nieuwpoort, Belgium, forcing her to beach herself on the Belgian coast between Nieuwpoort and Ostend to avoid sinking. To prevent her capture by advancing German ground forces, the British destroyer Keith destroyed her with gunfire, leaving her wreck on the bottom in a little over 16 feet of water.

McMahon went up to Buckingham Palace on 7 November 1941 to receive his Medal. His Skipper, Lieutenant-Commander G. N. Rolfe, R.N., won the D.S.C., whilst three other comrades earned the D.S.M., besides three other 'mentions'.

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Sold for
£1,200

Starting price
£600