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Auction: 26001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 252

The Somme 1916 D.C.M. group of four awarded to Rifleman F. G. T. Gristwood, King's Royal Rifle Corps, who heroically drew enemy fire thus saving his entire line from retreat during the Battle of the Somme

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (R-425 Pte F. G. T. Gristwood. 9/K.R.R.C.); 1914-15 Star (R-425 Pte F. G. T. Gristwood. K.R.Rif:C.), last letter of regiment misstruck; British War and Victory Medals (R-425 Pte. F. G. T. Gristwood. K.R.Rif.C.), very fine (4)

D.C.M. London Gazette 14 November 1916

'For conspicuous gallantry and devotion when employed as Company Orderly. During a hostile attack a general retirement took place, Private Gristwood at once got hold of the men, and by his fine example and by bold persuasion and influence, he prevented the retirement becoming general.'

Frank George Thomas Gristwood was born at London on 3 October 1896 and enlisted on the 21 May 1915 with the 9th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps before disembarking on the Western Front. Four days later on the 25 May, an enquiry was submitted to the British Red Cross & Order of St. John Enquiry List, where they reported him likely to have been wounded. The Battalion had landed at Boulogne-Sur-Mer as part of the 42nd Brigade and unusually saw action in the same battles as the 7th and 8th Battalions. His first action was likely at Hooge, where the Battalion were the first to be attacked by flamethrowers. For the remainder of the year, the battalion fought at that infamous battle, the Somme. It was here that Gristwood was awarded the D.C.M. for his gallantry. In a handwritten testimony included in the lot, Gristwood's heroism was reported:

'During the Battle of the Somme fifteenth September, 1916. Rifleman Gristwood was doing duty as a Platoon Orderly. He carried messages under heavy Shell-Fire during the attack & after his Battalion consolidated its position the Enemy started a Counter-Attack; the Regiment on the right, owing to wrong orders began to withdraw and Rifleman Gristwood regardless of the danger to himself ran across the open exposing himself to the full view of the Enemy & stopping the retreat by threatening to shoot, thereby saving the whole line from a General Retreat.'

In 1917, the battalion fought on the Hindenburg Line, at the First and Third Battle of the Scarpe at Arras, The Battle of Langemark and the First and Second Battle of Passchendaele. By 1918, they had transferred to the 43rd Brigade and returned to the Somme. It was here that towards the end of the war on the 22 March 1918, Gristwood was captured at Saint-Quentin and sent to the camp at Langensalza as a prisoner of war. Contemporary reports of the camp note the rampant ill health of the prisoners, inedible food and bullying from the commander of the camp. After the Armistice and once he had returned home, Gristwood transferred to the Army Reserves on the 1 April 1919.

Lot comes with a handwritten testimony mounted on cardboard.

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Estimate
£800 to £1,200

Starting price
£600