A Collection of Medals to Second World War Casualties (Part II) 947
Three: Lieutenant J. C. Paige, Royal Naval Reserve, who was killed in action when his submarine H.M.S. Sterlet was depth charged by the German anti-submarine trawlers UJ-125, UJ-126, and UJ-128 and sank off Larvik, Norway, 18 April 1940
1939-45 STAR; ATLANTIC STAR; WAR MEDAL 1939-45, with named Admiralty enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mrs. P. M. Jacob, “Vivary”, Hallen Road, Henbury, Bristol’, extremely fine (3)
£200-240
Jack Collings Paige was born at Plymouth, Devon, on 23 February 1913, and joined H.M.S. Conway as a Cadet in January 1929, just prior to his 16th birthday. He excelled, and was ultimately appointed Chief Cadet Captain (effectively the Head Boy). On leaving H.M. S. Conway he found employment with the Harrison Line, and on 1 October 1936 was commissioned Sub Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve. In early 1938 Paige left the Merchant Navy in order to attend peacetime training with the Royal Navy. Selected for the Submarine Service, he was posted to H.M.S. Dolphin on 14 May 1938.
Paige transferred to the S-class submarine H.M.S. Sterlet, based in the Tay at Dundee, on 28 August 1939, and served in her during the Second World War, spending the first six months of the War employed on patrols in the North Sea, from the coast of Norway down to the Netherlands. On 21 September 1939 he married Miss Patricia Mary Parry at the St. Paul’s Cathedral, Dundee. He was promoted Lieutenant, Royal Naval Reserve, on 11 January 1940. On 8 April 1940 Sterlet left for a patrol in the Skagerrak, off the coast of Norway. The following day Germany invaded Norway. On 12 April she spotted enemy ships and unsuccessfully attacked a convoy of three merchant ships and a destroyer. The following day she was assigned a new patrol area, and on 14 April she torpedoed and sunk the German Gunnery Training Ship Brummer.
On 18 April 1940, the German anti-submarine trawlers UJ-125, UJ-126, and UJ-128 launched several depth charge attacks and claimed the sinking of a Royal Navy submarine. In all probability this was the Sterlet. In any case she failed to return to port on 27 April 1940, and was declared overdue on that date, having either been sunk in the above attack or, possibly, having struck a mine.
Paige was amongst those killed, aged 27. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, and his official date of death is recorded as 27 April 1940, the day Sterlet was declared overdue. His medals were sent to his widow Patricia Mary Paige, who had subsequently remarried Second Lieutenant Howard Jacob, Gloucestershire Regiment.
Sold with the recipient’s Commission appointing him a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve, dated 1 October 1936; the recipient’s Continuous Certificate of Discharge; Certificate of Competency as Second Mate, dated 27 September 1934; National Health and Pension Insurance Cards; the recipient’s wife’s University of London School of Medicine for Women First Examination certificate, dated 12 February 1940; and various copied research.
948
Three: Able Seaman H. J. Beck, Royal Navy, who was killed in action when H.M.S. Acasta was sunk in the Norwegian Sea by the German Battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, during Operation Alphabet- the evacuation of Norway, 8 June 1940
1939-45 STAR; ATLANTIC STAR;WAR MEDAL 1939-45, with named Admiralty enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Mrs. K. H. Rhodes, 17 York Road, Erdington, Birmingham 23’; together with the recipient’s MEMORIAL SCROLL (Able Seaman H. J. Beck Royal Navy), in envelope of issue, addressed to ‘Mrs. K. H. Rhodes, 28 Cliveden Avenue, Perry Barr, Birmingham’; named Buckingham Palace enclosure, in envelope addressed to ‘Mrs. Kathleen Beck’; and a H.M.S. CARDIFF 3RD CRUISER SQUADRON PRIZE MEDAL, bronze, the reverse engraved ‘Cruiser Arbuthnot Winners 1927 Ord: Beck’, nearly extremely fine (4)
£280-320
Harry John Beck was born in Aston, Birmingham, on 4 September 1908, and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class on 8 January 1924. Advanced Ordinary Seaman on 4 September 1926, and Able Seaman on 4 March 1928, he served during the Second World War as an Able Seaman in the destroyer H.M.S. Acasta from 23 August 1939, and was killed in action during Operation Alphabet on 8 June 1940. On 31 May 1940 H.M.S. Glorious sailed from the Clyde to the Norwegian coast to carry out air operations in support of the evacuation of allied forces from Norway in Operation Alphabet. On 8 June she returned to Scapa Flow, escorted by the destroyers H.M.S. Ardent and Acasta. On the way through the Norwegian Sea the funnel smoke from Glorious and her two escorting destroyers was spotted by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at about 3:46 p.m. The German ships were not spotted until shortly after 4:00 and H.M.S. Ardent was dispatched to investigate. H.M.S. Ardent and H.M.S. Acasta laid a protective smokescreen to hide the British ships, and engaged the German ships with their 4.7 inch main armament, which proved to be ineffective. Despite coming under heavy fire from the much larger guns of the Germans, H.M.S. Ardent carried out a torpedo attack. She managed to score a single hit, but was struck repeatedly by enemy shells, and eventually capsized with the loss of 10 officers and 142 ratings.
H.M.S. Acasta was finally sunk after roughly two hours of fighting; the battle flag of the Gneisenau was lowered to half-mast and her crew brought to attention to honour the brave fight of Acasta and her crew. Meanwhile, the Scharnhorst switched her fire to H.M.S. Glorious at 4:32 p.m. and scored her first hit six minutes later on her third salvo, at an approximate range of 24,000 metres (26,000 yd), when one 11.1 inch shell hit the forward flight deck and burst in the upper hangar, starting a large fire. This hit destroyed two Swordfish being prepared for flight and the hole in the flight deck prevented any other aircraft from taking off. Splinters penetrated a boiler casing and caused a temporary drop in steam pressure. At 4:58 p.m. a second shell hit the homing beacon above the bridge and killed or wounded the captain and most of the personnel stationed there. Glorious was hit again in the centre engine room around 5:20 p.m. and this caused her to lose speed and commence a slow circle to port. She also developed a list to starboard. The German ships closed to within 15,000 metres (16,000 yd) and continued to fire at her until about 5:40 p.m. Glorious finally sank at around 6:10 p.m. with the loss of 1,207 out of her crew of 1,250. The whole engagement lasted just short of three hours and cost the lives of 1,519 officers and ratings. From Acasta there was just one survivor.
Beck was amongst those killed, aged 31. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. His medals were sent to his widow Kathleen Hilda Beck, who had subsequently remarried.
Sold with the recipient’s Parchment Certificate of Service; a Vocational Training Certificate; various photographs, including one of the recipient on his wedding day, and a postcard photograph of him outside his shop; various newspaper cuttings; letter to the recipient’s widow from the British Red Cross Society; and a copy of the book ‘The Man who hit the Scharnhorst’, the Ordeal of Leading Seaman Nick Carter.
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