Campaign Groups and Pairs 497 Family group:


Four: Major P. M. Wright, Royal Army Medical Corps 1939-45 Star; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, all privately inscribed, ‘Major P. M. Wright’, together with a quantity of R.A.M.C. badges and buttons, good very fine


Pair: Nursing Sister Miss Marie Lever, later Mrs. Wright, Territorial Army Nursing Service Defence and War Medals 1939-45; together with a quantity of Girl Guides’ and nursing badges, several of them named; and a pair of belt brooches, extremely fine (lot)


£40-£50


Philip Miall Wright, the son of Doctor Joseph Farrall Wright, was born in Bolton, Lancashire, on 17 March 1907, and qualified as a Doctor in London in 1936. He was commissioned Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 3 November 1939 and served during the Second World War at 38th British General Hospital, South East Asia Command. He married Nursing Sister Marie Lever while employed at Bolton Royal Infirmary after the War, and died in Keighley, Yorkshire, in March 1981.


498


Family Group:


Five: Group Captain P. E. Raymond, Royal Air Force, a prolific author who wrote about his experiences in the Second World War in ‘Back to Humanity’ 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; War Medal 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, E.II.R. (Fg. Off. P. E. Raymond. R.A.F.); General Service 1962-2007, 1 clasp, Malay Peninsula (Wg. Cdr. P. E. Raymond R.A.F.) mounted court-style as worn; together with the recipient’s related miniature awards (these also including a Defence Medal) edge nick to last, traces of lacquer, good very fine and better


One: Mrs. Z. I. M. Raymond Defence Medal, with Home Secretary’s enclosure, in named card box of issue addressed to ‘Mrs. Z. I. M. Raymond, 140a South Road, Haywards Heath, Sussex’, extremely fine (6)


£400-£500


Patrick Ernest Raymond was born in Haywards Heath, Sussex on 25 September 1924, the son of the novelist Ernest Raymond O.B.E., who was best known for his first novel, Tell England (1922), set in the Great War. Patrick Raymond trained as a Wireless Operator in 1944 and crewed up with the almost exclusively Canadian crew of Flight Sergeant Jack Fraser, Royal Canadian Air Force in 78 Squadron in August 1944, and between 2 November 1944 and 23 February 1945 completing a tour of 37 operations. His crew also included the artist Miller Gore Brittan, who was the bomb aimer, who was later appointed an official war artist and completed a number of works which feature his experiences with the crew including ‘Night Target, Germany.’


Like his father, Raymond became a prolific author: his first book was written in association with his father Ernest Raymond called ‘Back to Humanity’, published in 1945. It describes in intricate detail his experiences during the War as a member of an Operational Aircrew, and in particular the conflicting emotions he experienced on his first bombing raid, to Dusseldorf on 2 November 1944:


‘Life became faster at the end of the summer of 1944. I had joined an aircrew - a good-natured bunch of Canadians - and together we scrambled through the last phases of training. Nearly 18 months in the Air Force culminated when we were sent to a Halifax Squadron of Bomber Command. Yes, this was what we had waited for. We had been anticipating operations for a period of time that had turned into years and here we were: here were the Halifaxes and the bombs, the aircrews ands the rumours of war. And it was exciting. Here was that adventure that I had dreamed about - that we had dreamed about - through the early stages of training. The blokes were speaking of new things: of flak and searchlights; of good and bad targets; of raiding Germany and the Low Countries. At half-past four we were in the Briefing Room. ‘Well, chaps, the target for tonight is Dusseldorf. Some of you have been there before. The town has been very badly hit in previous raids, so I gather that the idea tonight is to complete the job. Your aiming point is here; it is a big target so there is every chance that your bombs will go home. Pathfinders will mark the aiming points with indicators. This squadron will be in the third wave.” Well, here was reality. The engines were starting all round the perimeter track. The airfield began to throb with the sound of aero- engines, some near, some distant. And then, one by one, the big aircraft lumbered out onto the perimeter track to roll down to the runway. And then began the long hours of flying to the target. It grew dark almost at once. The sound of the engines went on and on - a deep sound, it was steady and strong. And here again was doubt, a persistent companion. He had a lot to say as the dark cavernous clouds meandered by. And the futility of it all was easy to understand now. We were not really enjoying it; it was going against the grain. And the people of Dusseldorf? They were not going to enjoy it either. “Say, chaps, isn’t that the target?” Yes that was the target. The pathfinders had really lit the place up. The brightly coloured flares were falling towards the ground. And, oh Lord, here came the searchlights, long slender stilettos reaching through the gaps in the clouds. And then there was flak - sudden rose-coloured flashes that danced around the bomb stream. The bomb aimer took over from here. It was his job to guide us into the target. “Left twenty degrees” he said (Heavens! This was taking an eternity). “Left, Left, Steady.” (God, look at those lights!)


“Steady.” (For heaven’s sake drop them, man, and let’s get out of here.) “Steady. Bombs away!” (Look out, here comes the flak again). We lost something over the target, something that was drowned by the stronger emotions of contact. It was hard to think of anything now, hard to think about what might have happened. Something seemed to have snapped. Some drug seemed to have taken effect. It was with impunity that we watched the bombs fall.’ (Back to Humanity by Ernest and Patrick Raymond refers).


Raymond was commissioned Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force (General Duties Branch) on 25 January 1945, before transferring to the Secretarial Branch following the cessation of hostilities. He spent the next 22 years in the Royal Air Force, rising to the rank of Group Captain, and his final posting was as Station Commander of R.A.F. Uxbridge. Meanwhile he continued writing, and further books included A City of Scarlet and Gold, 1963; The Lordly Ones, 1965; The Sea Garden, 1970; The Last Soldier, 1974; A Matter of Assassination, 1977; The White War, 1978; The Grand Admiral, 1980; Daniel and Esther, 1989; The Maple Moon, 1990; and Chika the Serb, 1994. He died at Cuckfield, Sussex, in May 2015.


Sold with copies of two of his books, Back to Humanity and The White War; a photographic image of Raymond with Fraser’s Crew; and a large quantity of copied research including details of the recipient’s operational sorties.


www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 24% (+VAT where applicable)


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