Orders, Decorations and Medals

A good Second World War D.F.C. group of seven awarded to Squadron Leader M. G. Reid, Royal Canadian Air Force, who completed 38 sorties in Halifaxes of 76 and 78 Squadrons, on several occasions as a Leading Navigator in daylight raids

Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., reverse officially dated ‘1945’; 1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence Medal 1939-45, silver; Canadian Voluntary Service Medal 1939-45; War Medal 1939-45, silver; Canadian Forces Decoration, E.II.R., with Second Award Bar (S./L. M. G. Reid), generally good very fine (7) £1600-1800

D.F.C. London Gazette 6 November 1945. The original recommendation states:

‘Pilot Officer Reid has now completed his first tour of operations, comprising 38 sorties and 194 operational hours. He has participated in attacks on heavily defended German targets, including Gelsenkirchen (twice), Sterkrade (twice), Dusseldorf, Duisburg and Magdeburg. This Canadian officer has at all times proved himself to be a consistently superior navigator whose outstanding skill has enabled his captain to bring back many good photographs of the target area and has played a great part in the safe return of his aircraft and crew. His enthusiasm for operations has been abounding, while his extreme coolness under adverse weather conditions has done much to foster a high standard of morale in his crew. On several occasions he has led the Squadron and the Group in daylight attacks on German targets. These attacks were carried out with the greatest skill and determination and have been highly successful. He has greatly assisted in the training of new crews and has always set a fine example to his fellow navigators in the Squadron. I strongly recommend that Pilot Officer Reid’s outstanding skill, courage and strong devotion to duty be recognised by the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.’

Mervyn Garfield Reid, who was born in Winnipeg in 1922, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in June 1942 and qualified as a Navigator at the Edmonton Air Observer School in August 1943. Embarked for the U.K., he next attended No. 29 Operational Training Unit, following which he was posted to No. 76 Squadron, a Halifax unit operating out of Holme-on-Spalding, Yorkshire in July 1944.

Flying his first operational outing on the 18th of that month, a strike against the flying-bomb site at Acquet, Normandy, he went on to complete another 20 operations with No. 76, several of them of a similar nature - or other targets in support of the Allied landings - and the remainder against German targets such as Russelheim, Sterkrade and Gelsenkirchen - several, too, of the daylight variety. Transferring to No. 78 Squadron, another Halifax unit, operating out of Breighton, Yorkshire, in October 1944, Reid flew another 18 sorties, the vast majority of them against heavily defended Garman targets, including Bottrop. Cologne, Dortmund, Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Essen, Magdeburg, Munster and Stuttgart - and return trips to Gelsenkirchen and Sterkrade. Added to which, as stated above, ‘on several occasions he led the Squadron and the Group in daylight attacks on [these] German target’. Posted to No. 10 Squadron at the end of his operational tour in March 1945, he was awarded the D.F.C., which decoration was sent to him from Government House in November 1949.

Meanwhile, in January of the latter year, Reid rejoined the Royal Canadian Air Force with an appointment as a Navigator in No. 408 Squadron at Rockcliffe, a Lancaster photographic unit, and remained similarly employed until December 1951, when he joined No. 2 Air Navigation School as a Screen Navigator. Then in June 1955, having attended R.A.F. Merryfield to gain experience in Canberras, he was attached to No. 540 Squadron at R.A.F. Wyton. In fact, Reid remained employed at Wyton, latterly as a member of the Radar Reconnaissance Flight, until July 1959, when he returned to Canada. Here he served on the staff of the Canadian Navigation School until his retirement in April 1961, when he was re-graded as a Navigator A1.

Sold with the recipient’s original Flying Logs Books, bound as one volume, covering the period March 1943 to April 1961.