Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Six: Private M. C. W. J. Penrose, Gloucestershire Regiment, who was wounded and taken Prisoner of War at the Battle of Imjin River, 25 April 1951; escaping, he was re-captured, and was held at the notorious ‘Mining Camp’. He died in captivity, from combination of his wounds and the further aggravation of dysentery and gangrene, on 1 June 1951

1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Korea 1950-53, 1st issue (14459082 Pte. M. C. W. J. Penrose. Glosters.); U.N. Korea 19505-54, unnamed as issued; together with the recipient’s Memorial Scroll (Private M. C. W. J. Penrose Gloucestershire Regiment), nearly extremely fine (6) £600-800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Second World War Casualties.

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Mervyn Colin William John Penrose served during the Second World War with the Gloucestershire Regiment, and remained with the Colours following the end of hostilities. Following the outbreak of the Korean War, he sailed with the 1st Battalion aboard the Empire Windrush, landing at Pusan on 10 November 1950. Attached to Brigade Headquarters as the batman to R.S.M. Hobbs, he was present at the Battle of Imjin River where he was wounded and taken Prisoner of War by the Chinese on 25 April 1951.

Suffering from the effects of his wound, and an attack of dysentery, he and ten others escaped from their captors near Pyongyang. They were all swiftly re-captured and then held at the ‘Half Way’ Camp. By the end of May 1951 he was being held along with other men from the Glosters at the notorious Mining Camp, when a party of them was ordered to march to another camp near the Yalu River. Penrose was too weak to accompany them, and died in captivity on 1 June 1951 from a combination of his wounds, dysentery, and gangrene. He was buried by his fellow prisoners in a gulley at the side of the camp.

Penrose is commemorated on the Commonwealth Memorial at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery, Pusan, Korea.

Sold with a photograph of the Empire Windrush, with a hand-written note on the reverse from the recipient to his wife; letter to the recipient's wife informing her that her husband has been posted as missing, following the Battle of Imjin River, dated 25 May 1951; Certificate of Death and letter to the recipient’s wife informing her of his death, dated 21 November 1953; a portrait photograph of the recipient; various photographs of the Commonwealth Memorial, Pusan, together with the Order of Service Booklet for the Dedication of the Memorial; and various other research.

The photograph of the recipient is incorrectly shown in the printed catalogue alongside lot 543.