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Auction: 9033 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 18

The Rare Second World War Posthumous ´Service´ Albert Medal Second Class, For Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea Group of Five to Sick Berth Attendant I.T. Griffiths, Royal Navy, Who Was Killed by an Explosion, Whilst Attempting to Rescue the Pilot of a Stricken Corsair, Which Had Crashed Landed and Burst into Flames on the Deck of H.M.S. Illustrious, 11.3.1944 a) Albert Medal, Second Class, For Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea, bronze and enamel, the reverse officially engraved, ´Awarded by The King to S.B.A. Ivor Thomas Griffiths. D/MX.9380, for gallantry in trying to save the life of the pilot of an aircraft which had crashed while landing on H.M.S. Illustrious, 12th Mar.1944.´ b) 1939-1945 Star c) Burma Star d) Italy Star e) War Medal, generally good very fine (5) Estimate £ 7,000-9,000 A.M. (Posthumous) London Gazette 11.7.1944 Sick Berth Attendant Ivor Thomas Griffiths, D/MX.93880 (Gyffylliog, near Ruthin, Denbighshire), (listed jointly with Temporary Sub-Lieutenant (A) George McHardy, R.N.V.R. (East Finchley, N2)) ´For bravery in attempting to save life at sea: When an aircraft crashed while landing on H.M.S. Illustrious and came to rest with the engine on the flight deck and the tail on top of a pom-pom gun, petrol began to pour from the wreck and within two minutes an explosion was followed by fire. Within those two minutes Sub-Lieutenant McHardy; who had himself only just landed on, and Sick Berth Attendant Griffiths, who was a member of a party detailed for medical duties on the flight deck, climbed on to the aircraft in an attempt to free the pilot, although both were well aware of the extreme risk that they were running. They were killed by the explosion that followed.´ D/MX.9380 Sick Berth Attendant Ivor Thomas Griffiths, A.M., born Corris, Wales, 1922; upon leaving school he was employed at Braich Goch, one of the local slate quarries; prior to the outbreak of the Second World War he worked as an Attendant at Denbigh Hospital; he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Sick Berth Attendant, 29.10.1941; his initial service was mainly at H.M.S. Drake, before being posted to H.M.S. Illustrious (Aircraft Carrier), 24.3.1943; in mid 1943 H.M.S. Illustrious was serving in the Mediterranean in conjunction with ´Force H´, who were operating out of Gibraltar at the time; she was used to help cover the Allied Landings in Sicily (Operation Husky), before Griffiths moved with her to join the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean, February 1944; part of the 15th Naval Fighter Wing were embarked on H.M.S. Illustrious, and in March Fleet Air Arm pilots from 1830 and 1833 Squadrons (flying Corsairs) were taking off from her to carry out sweeps of the Bay of Bengal; Sub-Lieutenant Alan Vickers (1833 Squadron), R.N.V.R., crashed landed his Corsair on the deck of the Illustrious, whilst returning from such a sweep, 11.3.1944; McHardy (1830 Squadron) and Griffiths both rushed to attempt to rescue Vickers from his stricken aircraft as the petrol streamed out of it; Vickers and Griffiths were instantly killed by the explosion that followed, and McHardy died of his wounds the following day; Griffiths is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, Vickers is commemorated on the Lee-on-Solent Memorial and McHardy was buried in the Madras War Cemetery, India.

Sold for
£12,500