GROUPS AND SINGLE DECORATIONS FOR GALLANTRY M.I.D. London Gazette 20.12.1940: ‘In recognition of distinguished services in connection with operations in the field, March-June 1940.’
Harold James “Jim” Walker was born in Hornsey, Middlesex in November 1916 and educated at Eastbourne College. Employed before the War with Westminster Bank, he was a prominent member of the bank´s Rugby XV, and played in several big representative games for the London Banks.
Fall of France
At the outbreak of War he enlisted in the Artists Rifles, before being commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Norfolk Regiment in November 1939. Posted to ‘C’ Company of the 7th Battalion in France in 1940, as part of the 51st Highland Division, he served in front of the Maginot Line but, in the chaotic fighting that followed the German invasion of the Low Countries, his Battalion became separated from the bulk of the B.E.F., which was pushed back to Dunkirk in May 1940.
Instead, the 7th continued a fighting retreat along the Normandy Coast, where it reached the fishing port of St. Valery en Caux on 10 June 1940. Of subsequent events - and Walker’s remarkable escape - Kemp’s History of the Royal Norfolk Regiment 1919-1951 takes up the story:
‘At 2345 hours the Battalion received orders to take up positions for embarkation. ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘H.Q.’ Companies were assembled in a sunken road outside the railway station, but on receipt of embarkation orders, ‘C’ Company concentrated on the beach, losing touch with the remainder of the Battalion. All guns, machine-guns, and vehicles were destroyed in readiness for the embarkation. But there were no boats, and at 0200 hours on 12 June the Divisional Commander, after consultation with the senior French officer present, ordered 51 Division, and the Battalion, to lie up in the woods a mile or so outside the town. The situation was now almost hopeless for there were no guns, no ammunition, no food. Already units which had been unable to reach St. Valery were surrendering in the surrounding villages where they had been cut off and at 1030 hours on the 12th, the remainder of the Division was ordered to lay down its arms.
There remained ‘C’ Company out of touch on the beach, and ‘D’ Company attached to the 1 Gordons near Cany. Captain Colley, O.C. ‘C’ Company, having lost touch with Battalion H.Q. and still unable to make contact with the remainder of the Battalion, decided to take up a defensive position in the pine woods to the south-west of the town. The operation was successfully carried out and the position held against frequent attacks. Eventually the enemy brought up tanks and, after the Company had suffered a few casualties, a withdrawal was made through the town to the port area. Captain Colley, in the continued absence of any orders, decided that the only thing to do was for three officers of the company to take parties of volunteers, and attempt to reach the ships which were thought to be lying a mile or two out to sea. The method of getting out was to be by small fishing boats which were lying alongside the jetty at the far end of the town.
After a hazardous journey through the town, Captain Colley and 2nd Lieutenant Walker, each with a party of about 18 men, secured boats. The parties got aboard by sliding down the mast, but 2nd Lieutenant Walker's boat was found to possess no oars. In their place they managed to secure four shovels and set out to sea using these as paddles. They were fired at by machine-guns but fortunately were not hit. After three hours they were able to attract the attention of H.M.S. Harvester and were taken on board. On the following day they were landed at Southampton, where they found another 11 men of ‘C’ Company. This party had made its way along the beach from St. Valery to Veules-les-Roses, where many troops had been picked up. Their journey along the beach had been a hazardous one, as they had been fired on by the enemy lining the cliffs, who had also rolled boulders down on them.
Captain Colley was less fortunate. His boat had a taller mast than that of 2nd Lieutenant Walker, and had been unable to get under a low bridge at the entrance to the harbour. It was forced to return. Captain Colley then attempted to lead his men to Veules-les-Roses, but was killed in the process.’
Walker was mentioned in despatches. Normandy and beyond
Having been advanced to Captain in the interim, Walker commanded the 7th Battalion’s advance party on its arrival in Normandy in late June 1944.
He quickly gained appointment as an Acting Major with command of ‘C’ Company, in which capacity he first went into action in the battle for the Orne bridgehead in August 1944, where his lifelong friend, Captain David Jamieson, won the V.C. The fighting on the 7th -8th was particularly bitter, the Battalion - part of 176th Brigade - proving instrumental in facing off ‘the whole weight of one of the crack divisions of the German Army, the 12 S.S. (Hitler Jugend) Panzer Division’ (Kemp’s history, refers).
Following the Orne bridgehead operations, Walker was given command of ‘B’ Company, 1st Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, and it was in this capacity that he won his D.S.O. for Operation “Veritable”, the British and Canadian offensive between the River Maas and Rhine in February 1945; in Walker’s case, this proved to be the bitter fighting that took place in the battle for Reichswald Forest and, as cited above, it was a period of operations that witnessed the appointment of 26 Company Commanders in the 1st Battalion, owing to heavy casualties. He was awarded the D.S.O.
Walker never lost his affection for the Royal Norfolk Regiment, and for many years organised the annual reunion dinner in London. He died at home in Sutton, Surrey in October 1997.
Sold with the recipient’s original D.S.O. warrant, dated 11 October 1945, and M.I.D. certificate, dated 20 December 1940, both framed and glazed; together with Somme Commemorative Medal certificate, dated 24 August 1990, two portrait photographs - one of the recipient, and one of the recipient with his wife - and copies of two newspaper cuttings regarding the award of the D.S.O., both dated October 1945.
www.dnw.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236 |
Page 237 |
Page 238 |
Page 239 |
Page 240 |
Page 241 |
Page 242 |
Page 243 |
Page 244 |
Page 245 |
Page 246 |
Page 247 |
Page 248 |
Page 249 |
Page 250 |
Page 251 |
Page 252 |
Page 253 |
Page 254 |
Page 255 |
Page 256 |
Page 257 |
Page 258 |
Page 259 |
Page 260 |
Page 261 |
Page 262 |
Page 263 |
Page 264 |
Page 265 |
Page 266 |
Page 267 |
Page 268 |
Page 269 |
Page 270 |
Page 271 |
Page 272 |
Page 273 |
Page 274 |
Page 275 |
Page 276 |
Page 277 |
Page 278 |
Page 279 |
Page 280 |
Page 281 |
Page 282 |
Page 283 |
Page 284 |
Page 285 |
Page 286 |
Page 287 |
Page 288 |
Page 289 |
Page 290 |
Page 291 |
Page 292 |
Page 293 |
Page 294 |
Page 295 |
Page 296 |
Page 297 |
Page 298 |
Page 299 |
Page 300 |
Page 301 |
Page 302 |
Page 303 |
Page 304 |
Page 305 |
Page 306 |
Page 307 |
Page 308 |
Page 309 |
Page 310 |
Page 311 |
Page 312 |
Page 313 |
Page 314 |
Page 315 |
Page 316 |
Page 317 |
Page 318 |
Page 319 |
Page 320 |
Page 321 |
Page 322 |
Page 323 |
Page 324 |
Page 325 |
Page 326 |
Page 327 |
Page 328 |
Page 329 |
Page 330 |
Page 331 |
Page 332 |
Page 333 |
Page 334 |
Page 335 |
Page 336 |
Page 337 |
Page 338 |
Page 339 |
Page 340 |
Page 341 |
Page 342 |
Page 343 |
Page 344 |
Page 345 |
Page 346 |
Page 347 |
Page 348 |
Page 349 |
Page 350 |
Page 351 |
Page 352 |
Page 353 |
Page 354 |
Page 355 |
Page 356 |
Page 357 |
Page 358 |
Page 359 |
Page 360 |
Page 361 |
Page 362 |
Page 363 |
Page 364 |
Page 365 |
Page 366 |
Page 367 |
Page 368 |
Page 369 |
Page 370 |
Page 371 |
Page 372 |
Page 373 |
Page 374 |
Page 375 |
Page 376 |
Page 377 |
Page 378 |
Page 379 |
Page 380