A Second War ‘1940, Little Ships, Dunkirk’ D.S.M. pair awarded to Able Seaman E. Fenton, Royal Navy

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (JX.145044 E. Fenton. A.B. H.M.Y. Bounty.) on original mounting pin; Imperial Service Medal, E.II.R., 2nd issue (Ernest Fenton) last in case of issue, good very fine and better (2) £2,400-£2,800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The James Fox Collection of Naval Awards.

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Lieutenant-Commander A. D. McLauchlan Collection, Spink, July 2008.

D.S.M. London Gazette 16 August 1940:
‘For good services in the withdrawal of the Allied Armies from the beaches Dunkirk.’

The joint Recommendation, with Signalman H. G. Hayes and Ordinary Seaman W. A. Denny, states: ‘Besides their work in Bounty, from p.m. 31st May when the La Panne beach and piers were being heavily shelled, volunteers were called for to take in a whaler to bring off a final contingent of soldiers. These three young men came forward and returned to the beach again and again. They were all invariably to be found where work was difficult and dangerous.’

Ernest Fenton served in the Motor Yacht Bounty during the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940. The small yacht, owned and commanded by Lieutenant C. A. Lundy, R.N.V.R., carried approximately 1,100 personnel from the beaches to the larger ships on 31 May. At one point the small yacht was used as the Flag Ship of Commodore Stevenson, and transported Lord Gort (the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force) from the minesweeper Hebe to the destroyer H.M.S. Keith. On one of her runs, whilst carrying 150 troops, her propeller fouled and she had to be towed all the way back to Ramsgate by H.M.S. Seriola.