Orders, Decorations and Medals

An interesting Air Sea Rescue group of seven to Flight Lieutenant W. Gale, Royal Air Force

1939-45 STAR; ATLANTIC STAR; BURMA STAR; DEFENCE AND WAR MEDALS; GENERAL SERVICE 1918-62, 1 clasp, Malaya, G.VI.R. (Flt. Lt., R.A.F.); U.N. KOREA, mounted as worn, good very fine (7)

The lot is sold with a number of original Second World War escape aids, including a wooden comb with inserted file, a magnetized Identity Disc (uninscribed), four compasses, three of collar-stud size for insertion in ears (or elsewhere), a ‘Blood Chit’ (printed on linen) offering reward for safe passage, and two small printed booklets (on card) with Burmese, Chinese and Japanese phrases, all of which were issued to the recipient during his time as Skipper of a High Speed Launch (RAF) when engaged in clandestine duties with Force 136; also a number of letters from the 1980's, which provide full career details, and two photographs.

Flight-Lieutenant W. 'Bill' Gale joined the Marine Craft Branch of Royal Air Force in 1933, a unit which was re-designated as Air Sea Rescue (ASR) in 1938 during the Munich crisis. Originally employed in supply services to flying boats, using a variety of general purpose craft, Gale found himself posted to High Speed Launch (HSL) No. 152, based at Calshot, in 1935. Here he met, and got to know on friendly terms, Lawrence of Arabia (a.k.a. Aircraftman Shaw), who was working on his 'human target' 37 ft. armoured motor-boat. During the day, Shaw worked out at Hythe, about seven miles from Calshot, but Gale was billeted at the same base, in barrack hut No. 8, next door to Shaw in hut No. 9. In August 1935, shortly after Shaw's death, he volunteered for work on one of his 'human target' craft, a somewhat hazardous undertaking which involved steaming up and down a ‘bombing area’ off Christchurch Bay, while Harts and Nimrods tried to hit them with tanic-acid bombs. Gale recalled that it was preferable for the bombs to hit the unprotected section of the hull (sometimes they went clean through the bottom of the boat), since a direct hit on the armoured plating produced an ear-shattering noise and the 'father and mother of all headaches'.

Gale was promoted to Corporal Coxswain II in 1938, Sergeant Coxswain I in 1939 and Flight-Sergeant in 1940, by which time he was the senior N.C.O. at Stranraer Marine Craft Unit, working in liaison with three squadrons of flying boats on Atlantic patrol duties. Commissioned as an acting Pilot Officer Master in 1941, he was next posted to an HSL delivery base but in 1942, with just 48 hours notice, he was sent out to the Far East. Soon after arrival in Ceylon, however, he was hospitalised with a serious lumbar injury, eventually emerging from Poona hospital in early 1943. Thereafter he spent six months on HSLs at Addu Atoll, prior to being posted to Chittagong (and later Akyab) as Flight-Lieutenant and C.O. of No. 228 Air Sea Rescue unit.

During this latter period of service he was sometimes ordered to convey members of the clandestine 'Force 136' to positions near, or directly off, enemy held territory. Among the more notable of these operations was the occasion his HSL ran into a cyclone, while carrying 7 'Force 136' men, off the Burmese coast. All of the latter, and all but one other crew member, became casualties. But for Gale's extraordinary seamanship and bravery, none would have got home. But any chance of recognition was almost certainly ruined when, on getting back to base, he had to swear at his Group Captain to prevent another HSL immediately being despatched with a replacement 'Force 136' team. Luckily the A.O.C. managed to step in and prevent any charges for insubordination being levied.

On another occasion, Gale went to the rescue of a torpedoed Norwegian tanker and was horrified to hear that the survivors had been machine-gunned by the Japanese submarine. Unlike their captain, who had been tied to the conning tower shortly before the submarine submerged, a few lived to tell the tale. After a final posting to Ceylon, where his unit was preparing for the invasion of Singapore at the time of the first atom bomb, Gale returned to the U.K. Remaining in the employ of ASR -until 1959, the year of his retirement, Gale subsequently returned to the Far East for two 3 -year postings, seeing service in Borneo, Singapore, Penang, Hong Kong and Japan, the latter at the time of the Korean War. He also had a 'secret' posting to Addu Atoll in 1957, no doubt at the time of the nuclear tests which have since attracted considerable controversy.