A Second War ‘Minelayers’ D.S.M. group of seven awarded to Able Seaman G. S. Line, Royal Navy, who participated in Operation Dynamo and was present at the sinking of the Bismark

Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (JX.128623 G. S. Line. A.B. H.M.S. Ivanhoe) officially re-impressed naming; Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1936-1939 (JX.128623 G. S. Line. A.B. R.N.); 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Burma Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (JX.128623 G. S. Line. A.B. H.M.S. Suffolk.) nearly extremely fine (7) £800-£1,000

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

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D.S.M. London Gazette 14 January 1941:
‘For gallantry and devotion to duty while serving in H.M. Minelayers.’

George Sidney Line was born in Norwich on 25 July 1911 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class on 24 November 1926. Advanced Able Seaman on 23 January 1931, he was posted to the minelayer H.M.S. Ivanhoe on 24 August 1937. He served in her during the first year of the Second World War, during which period Ivanhoe helped sink a German submarine in October 1939, and then played an important role during Operation Dynamo, the retreat from Dunkirk. On 29 May 1940 she ferried 930 troops to Dover, picking up survivors from the damaged destroyer H.M.S. Grafton, and the following day picked up a further 1,290 men from Dunkirk. On 2 June 1940, whilst loaded with more troops, she was attacked off Dunkirk by German aircraft and badly hit by a bomb, killing 26 men and wounding many others, but managed to reach Dover, before being taken in for repair.

Line was posted to H.M.S. Suffolk on 20 April 1941, and the following month she took part in the sinking of the German battleship Bismark. He remained in Suffolk for the rest of the War, and was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal 20 November 1944.

Sold with copied research.