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Auction: 24112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 561

Three: Gunner J. Searson, Royal Artillery, who died in service during the Second World War - he may have been a casualty of the postulated German raid on the Isle of Wight in 1943

British War and Victory Medals (49365 Gnr. J. Searson. R.A.); Army L.S. & G.C., G.V.R (1421466 Sjt. J. Searson. R.A.), very fine (3)

James Searson was born at Chorlton, Lancashire in 1890, the son of John and Eliza Searson. Enlisting with the Royal Artillery at Manchester on 2 November 1914 he saw Great War action and was wounded on 27 September 1918. Re-attesting after the war on 2 August 1921 he continued to serve and was presumably a Reservist on the outbreak of the Second World War.

Searson was posted to the 527 Coast Regiment as a Gunner when the war began. He died on the Isle of Wight in April 1943, near the time that Adrian Searle suggested a German raid occurred in his book Churchill's Last Wartime Secret: The 1943 German Raid Airbrushed from History. Searson gets a mention in this book which states:

'Royal Artillery Gunner, James Searson, forty-nine years old, occupies the solitary war grave from 1943 in neighbouring Sandown Cemetery. Serving with 527 (Hampshire) Coast Regiment, a territorial unit, on the Isle of Wight when he died in April, his burial at Sandown is unsurprising owing to his local residency and while the circumstances of his death are not clear, the date in April would seem to preclude any link with the rumoured German Landing.'

He is buried at Sandown Cemetery and is noted to have been married to Bertha Searson, of Sandown; sold together with copied research.

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Sold for
£80

Starting price
£60