Campaign Groups and Pairs 259
Five: Captain R. L. Pryce, Royal Engineers, attached Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners, Indian Army, who was Mentioned in Despatches for distinguished service in Burma
1939-45 Star; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; Efficiency Medal,
G.VI.R., 2nd issue, Territorial (Lt. R. L. Pryce. R.E.) mounted as worn, nearly extremely fine (5)
£100-£140 M.I.D. London Gazette 19 July 1945.
Ray Leighton Pryce was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 4 January 1942. Promoted Lieutenant on 1 October 1942, he served during the Second World War in the Arakan from 1944 to 1945 with the 93rd Field Company, Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners, as part of the 25th Indian Division.
The regimental history of the Royal Bombay Sappers & Miners 1939-1947 includes the following account by Captain W. W. Guthrie, M.C.: ‘We arrived in the Maungdaw area in late March 1944. Contact with the enemy was taking place mainly high up on the west side of the Mayu Range inland from Maungdaw and slightly south of the tunnel road to Buthedaung... Besides manning our perimeter… we improved the single access road to the tunnel area… At other times we played infantry, making shallow reconnaissances to the south… After the monsoon there was more extensive patrolling in force and we accompanied the infantry on these sorties. On an expedition with the Oxford & Buckinghamshires… we were subject to mortar fire from the foothills. One round landed among Ray Pryce’s Mahrattas leaving one man with severe leg wounds.’
For his distinguished services in Burma, Pryce was Mentioned in Despatches. He subsequently joined the Bath branch of the Burma Star Association in 1976.
260 Five: Captain K. E. Baseley, Royal Engineers
1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, S.E. Asia 1945-46 (Capt. K. E. Baseley. R.E.) mounted as worn, last struck on a slightly thinner flan, light contact marks, good very fine (5)
£120-£160
Kenneth Evans Baseley was born on 7 July 1916 and enlisted in the ranks for the Royal Engineers at Southampton on 4 March 1941, an Ordnance Surveyor by trade. Commissioned Second Lieutenant on 16 July 1943, he was promoted Lieutenant on 16 January 1944, and served as acting Captain attached to 102 Indian Survey Directorate, Royal Indian Engineers, in Java from 18 April to 28 May 1946. He transferred to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers on 3 December 1951, and was granted the honorary rank of Major.
Sold with the recipient’s Soldier’s Service and Pay Book; Officer’s Record of Service; and an Asian identity booklet containing a photograph of the recipient.
261
Four: Driver H. O. J. Hambridge, Royal Engineers, who was captured and taken Prisoner of War at Tobruk on 1 June 1942
1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with Army Council enclosure, in named card box of issue addressed to ‘Mr. H. Hambridge, 30 Crown Road, Kidlington, Oxford’; together with the recipient’s German P.O.W. identity tag ‘Stalag IV B 259838’, extremely fine (4)
£80-£120
Herman Olaf Jack Hambridge was born in March 1922 and attested for the Royal Engineers on 16 October 1939. He served with 235 Field Park Company during the Second World War, and was captured and taken Prisoner of War at Tobruk on 1 June 1942. Held at camps initially in Italy, and then at Werdau, he was liberated on 16 April 1945.
Sold together with a copy of the recipient’s M.I.9 P.O.W. Questionnaire. 262
Five: Company Quarter-Master Sergeant G. H. V. Cornille, Royal Signals 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Efficiency Medal,
G.VI.R., 1st issue, Territorial (7685343 C.Q.M.S. G. H. V. Cornille, R. Sigs.) mounted as worn
Five: Sergeant F. J. Wilson, Royal Signals 1939-45 Star; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Cyprus (22828995 Sgt. F. J. Wilson. R. Sigs.) mounted as worn, very fine and better (10)
£100-£140 263
Five: Major G. C. Matthews, Cheshire Regiment, attached Machine Gun Battalion, 12th Frontier Force Regiment, Indian Army, later Singapore Police, who was Mentioned in Despatches for his services in Burma
1939-45 Star; Burma Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, with M.I.D. oak leaf; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya,
G.VI.R. (A.S.P. G. C. Matthews. S’pore Pol.) mounted as worn, nearly extremely fine (5)
£120-£160 M.I.D. London Gazette 19 July 1945.
Guy Collington Matthews was born in 1919 and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Cheshire Regiment on 20 April 1940. Promoted Lieutenant on 20 October 1941, he served during the Second World War as a British Service Officer attached to the Machine Gun Battalion, 12th Frontier Force Regiment, Indian Army, and was advanced Acting Major by April 1945.
The Machine Gun Battalion of the Frontier Force Regiment was formed in January 1942 and served in the Arakan initially from April to October 1943. In February 1944 the unit moved back into the Arakan and played its part in the relief of the Admin Box: ‘The battalion can justifiably claim its share of dead Japs... Major Matthews commanded “C” Company during these operations’ (Regimental Magazine refers).
The October 1945 edition of the Magazine also lists Matthews serving with the unit. After operating on Ramree Island the record states ‘When the Japs eventually were driven out of the island itself two companies were employed on the mainland. Guy Matthews C Company and Bruce Hobson D Company were the lucky ones this time...’
Regarding the Rangoon landing: ‘Guy Matthews with his Company and the Second-in Command with the remainder of the battalion headquarters had no sooner arrived in the concentration area than they were told that their convoys had been cancelled and that they would be returning to India... This came as a considerable anti-climax.’
The February 1946 edition of the Magazine also lists Matthews serving with the unit, but he departed before the battalion embarked for operations in Java. For his services in Burma Matthews was Mentioned in Despatches.
Transferring to Regular Army Reserve of Officers, Cheshire Regiment, with the honorary rank of Major on 6 May 1949, Matthews sailed for Singapore on 6 February 1963 in the SS Canton, giving his occupation as Police Superintendent. He died in 1985 and is buried at Holy Trinity Church burial ground, West Runton, Norfolk, where his father, Felix Hackett Matthews (1883-1964) was vicar for 45 years.
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