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Auction: 23003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 273

'Somewhere about one o'clock the squadron of tanks to which Steve belonged was bombed by 12 Stukas. Steve's crew got inside the tank when they saw them coming while he remained outside watching them through his glasses. This was not by any means careless of him, for it is only rarely that dive-bombers attack tanks, since nothing but a direct hit will do any damage and a direct hit is very rare...

What he did not see was that the remaining three planes were aiming at his tank, He heard their bombs coming too late for him to get inside...Unfortunately two or three bombs were dropped, all in close proximity to the tank, and one of them fell so near him that shrapnel cut him very severely in the right leg and in the back...

We buried him out in the open desert, where so many of our men lie.'

The Reverend Charles Duthie, C.F., Chaplain 1 Royal Tank Regiment, writing a personal and heartfelt letter to Captain Gane's widow to explain the circumstances of his death in action in North Africa in 1942.

The poignant Second World War M.C. group of four awarded to Captain E. P. H. Gane, Nottinghamshire Yeomanry and 1 Royal Tank Regiment, who met a tragic death on 28 November 1942 exactly one year since earning his decoration

Military Cross, G.VI.R., unnamed as issued, reverse officially dated '1942, in its original Royal Mint case of issue; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, 8th Army; War Medal 1939-45, good very fine (4)

M.C. London Gazette 24 February 1942. The Recommendation states:

'On 28th November 1941 in the area N.E. of BIR EL HAMED, this officers' troop took part in a counter-attack against 11 enemy tanks. He led his troop with exceptional courage, and, when his own tank broke down, he himself dismounted and carried out the necessary repairs, when under anti-tank and L.M.G. fire. Later in the day this officers' troop charged and captured 4 anti-tank guns and 250 prisoners, without loss to themselves.'

In 1941, the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry converted to armour initially with M3 Grant and M4 Sherman medium tanks and Crusader cruiser tanks, and was assigned to the 8th Armoured Brigade. The Regiment served in most of the major battles of the Eighth Army in the North Africa campaign, including Alam El Halfa and Second El Alamein and the Tunisia Campaign. A total of 8 Military Crosses were awarded to the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry for the Second World War.

Everett Percival Hillier Gane was born on 2 June 1906, he was the son of Justice Percival Carleton Gane and Gladys Gane of Grahamstown, South Africa. He came to England in October 1939 and joined the British Army. He married Dorothy Lena Cayley on 4 January 1941. He died of wounds sustained in an air raid on 28 November 1942 and is buried in the Benghazi War Cemetery.

A letter sent to his wife states how he died and what type of officer he was:

'From Rev. C. S. Duthie, Chaplain of the Forces, 1st Royal Tank Regiment M.E.F. 29 November 1942.

My dear Mr. & Mrs. Gane,

By the time this reaches you, you will have received the terrible news that your son, Captain Gane, was killed yesterday. I am writing to give you some detail of what happened and to tell you what we thought of your boy.

Yesterday we were bombed several times. About one o'clock there was a Stuka attack on some of our forward tanks. Steve's crew got into the tank but Steve stayed out, either because he thought the bombs were going to fall further over or because he was concerned primarily for the safety of the men with him. Perhaps both things were in his mind at the same time. The bombs of the first nine Stukas did actually fall some distance away. But three more Stukas then dropped their load just where the tank was. One fella few yards from the rear, another a few yards from the side of it. Steve fell flat when he heard the bombs coming but this did not save him. He was hit in the right leg and in the back and to some extent in the stomach. The crew did what they could, wirelessing immediately for the doctor, Capt. Wainman, who went up post haste to the frontal position. He found Steve badly wounded, did what was possible for him in the ambulance for the Advanced dressing station. Steve kept losing consciousness from time to time, but he was able to speak to the doctor and ask that his letters should be attended to (one to his wife and one to Mrs. Gane of Grahamstown).

He did not know he was likely to die and the doctor, who thought the world of him, could not bring himself to tell him. Meanwhile the column I was with had also been bombed. After I had seen the one man who was wounded, I went up to meet the ambulance carrying Steve, only to discover that he had died a few minutes before.

You can be sure that everything possible was done for Steve and that it was the gravity of his wounds that made help unavailing.

We buried him out in the open and marked the place with a cross. Later the Graves Registration Unit will either put up a permanent cross or re-inter the body in a cemetery. I believe that Steve was a Roman Catholic but I did not call in the Brigade R.C. Padre, as he was busy elsewhere. Steve sat loose to our unhappy divisions and am sure would not have minded. We were good friends.

His personal effects will be returned in the usual way. I have sent on the letter to you and to his wife. They are probably dated 28th or 27th and are the lat letters he completed. There is an unfinished letter which will go back the base and be included with his personal effects. It is to Mrs. Kaufmann. It is hard for me to try even to put into words what Steve's loss means to us all. He was a grand officer, respected, loved and almost worshipped by his men. He was utterly without fear. When a brother officer spoke at any time of "Stevie" Gane, you could almost detect the undercurrent of affection in his voice. There was a strength and sanity and directness in all he said. The daylight shone through him and he scorned all that was mean or low. I cannot think of 1st Tanks without him.

Among my happiest memories are chats with him in the mess or in the lulls between battles. I had an ambition to learn Afrikaans because it was so like my home Scots dialect and we had many a laugh over my efforts to say something in reply to him. Two incidents stand out in my memory. The first was on June 8th. He came out with me to recover and bury the body of one of our officers killed two days before. That was typical of him. The other was a day or two later, when he was wounded. he waited at my truck and was very cheery as ever - and very indignant because the Italians had been gunning the crews who baled out from the tanks.

I consider it a great privelege to have known your son. The memory of what he was will not soon fade. May God bless you in your great loss and encourage you with the thought that his sacrifice with the sacrifices will one day set the world free from the terror that had threatened it- already too long. May that day be speeded.

Yours very sincerely, Chas. S. Duthie. Chaplain R.T.R.'

Sold together with the following original archive comprising:

(i)
Memorial Scroll, mounted on card, together with Buckingham Palace covering note.

(ii)
Marriage certificate.

(iii)
The original letter from Rev. Duthie as transcribed above.

(iv)
Photographs of him in civilian clothing, uniform (2), his wife and daughter having collected his Military Cross at Buckingham Palace.

(v)
Letter from the War Office dated 20 February 1945 confirming he was buried in Benghazi Cemetery.

(vi)
Newspaper cutting stating that the King had presented his widow with the Military Cross.

(vii)
Letter to his widow, dated 18 June 1946, addressed to Schoonder Street, Cape Town, relating to a Pension.

(viii)
Letter to his father Judge Gane, dated 29 May 1943, relating to him having attested to the U.D.F. which was proven not to be the case and any pension would be paid by the British Army.

(ix)
Four letters of condolence to his father and mother.

(x)
A reduced size letter from Chaplain Duthie to Mrs Gane, dated 29 November 1942.

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Sold for
£1,300

Starting price
£950