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Auction: 7012 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 941

Six: Attributed to Major H.G. Mason, Gloucestershire Regiment and Reconnaissance Corps 1939-1945 Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals; Coronation 1937; Efficiency Decoration, G.VI.R., reverse dated ´1944´, with three additional G.VI.R. bars, nearly extremely fine, the group together with the following documentation &c.: - Commission Appointing Herbert George Mason as Second Lieutenant, Territorial Army, dated 10.11.1927 - The recipient´s Officer´s Record of Service Army Book - The recipient´s Field Service Pocket Book - Territorial Army Embodiment Notice to Join letter, addressed to Capt. H.G. Mason, dated 1.9.1939, in original envelope - Copy of The Gloucestershire Parade newspaper, July 1948, featuring ´A Message from Monty´ - 5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, Old Comrades Association, ´Welcome Home´ Dinner, invitation, named to ´Major H.G. Mason, T.D.´, and menu, 12.4.1947 - 5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, Old Comrades Association Certificate of Appreciation, named to ´Major H.G. Mason, T.D., dated April 1947 - Five photographs of the Recipient, including one of him being presented with the Efficiency Decoration by Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, K.G., G.C.B., D.S.O. (6) Estimate £ 250-300 T.D. London Gazette 20.1.1944 Capt. (T/Maj.) H.G. Mason (38805) Reconnaissance Corps. T.D. "3 Clasps" London Gazette 31.3.1950 Maj. H.G. Mason, T.D. (38805) Gloster R. Major Herbert George Mason, T.D., born 9.10.1908; educated at Cheltenham College; Commissioned Second Lieutenant, 5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (Territorial Army), 19.11.1927; Promoted Lieutenant, 19.11.1930; Captain 17.3.1937; served in ´C´ Company in Cheltenham; called up on the outbreak of War, 2.9.1939, and went with the Battalion to France 2.10.1939; proceeded to the Saar region and into the Maginot Line; in May 1940, when the German invasion of Belgium began, moved forward to Waterloo, before withdrawing as rearguard to the 48th Division, spending four days and nights with no sleep or food; the Gloucesters lost 194 killed or missing in the retreat, before being evacuated from Dunkirk; Temporary Major, 28.8.1940. In 1941, 5th Battalion became 43rd Reconnaissance Corps; Major Mason took command of ´A ´ Company, and was Second-in-Command to Lieutenant-Colonel J.P. Carne, [who would later win a V.C. with the ´Glorious Gloucesters´ at Imjun River, Korea]; posted to Allied Military Government, Italy, 1943, and served there and in Austria until the end of the War; Major 11.4.1945; returned to Civilian life and appointed to the Air Ministry at Bristol, December 1945; whilst in Bristol he was instrumental in the re-formation of the 5th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment (T.A.), and became Officer Commanding, ´A´ Company; appointed Second-in-Command, 1948; transferred to Territorial Reserve of Officers, 1952; Major Mason died of shock due to haemorrhage and facial fractures suffered from self-inflicted gun shot wounds, 31.3.1967.

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£400