Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Attributed to Able Seaman J. W. Rice, Royal Navy, who witnessed extensive action in the Mediterranean in the destroyer H.M.S. Legion in 1941-42, and was wounded when the Legion was bombed and sunk at Malta on 19 March 1942

1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, good very fine (5) £80-£100

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

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John William Rice was born at Chorlton, Manchester on 13 April 1906 and joined the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman in June 1941. Posted to the destroyer H.M.S. Legion at Gibraltar in August 1941, he served in Legion up until her loss at Malta in 1942, and was present in her during the Malta convoy Operation Halberd in September 1941, during which the ship came under sustained air attack. It was on returning from the operation - in the company of her consorts Halberd and Gurkha - that she contributed to the destruction of the Italian submarine Adua. Next, on 13 November 1941, after joining the 4th Destroyer Flotilla, Legion was present on the occasion the carrier Ark Royal was torpedoed off Gibraltar by the U-81. In the company of her consort Lightning, she raced to the stricken carrier's assistance, with her captain, Commander Jessel, displaying marked skill in bringing Legion alongside Ark Royal and helping to embark 1,500 officers and ratings, many of whom jumped into hammocks that had been rigged-up on Legion's foredeck. Then, on 13 December 1941, Legion was present at the battle of Cap Bon, on which occasion she contributed to the destruction of the Italian cruisers Alberto di Giussano and Alberico da Barbiano. Following this success, Rice and his shipmates assisted Kipling when they took out the U-75 off Marsa Matruh on 28 December.

Following the Second Battle of Sirte on 19 March 1942, Legion returned to Malta, where she was attacked and severely damaged by enemy aircraft. Mortally damaged by several direct bomb hits, her forward magazine exploded and she rolled over and sank in the harbour, her bridge and funnel lying against the jetty. Rice was wounded in the head, hospitalised and evacuated to Port Said in H.M.S. Penelope a fortnight later; his service record confirms his receipt of a Certificate for Wounds and Hurts, dated 4 April 1942.

Borne on the books of H.M.S. Stag at Port Said until January 1943, Rice was subsequently drafted for landing craft duties, and saw action off Salerno in the Landing Ship (Tank) 360, prior to serving at the shore establishments Hannibal at Algiers and Byrsa at Naples. On returning to the U.K. in March 1944, he was appointed a naval policeman attached to New Scotland Yard, before being discharged, 'physically unfit for Naval service', in December 1945. He died at Colwyn Bay in April 1981.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including three named wartime port passes, including one issued to him as a casualty / passenger in H.M.S. Penelope in April 1942; together with a named commissioning card, as a rating in a Seamen Platoon Section, date stamped 26 June 1944; a wartime portrait photograph in uniform and another portrait taken in later life, wearing his medals; three letters to Rice, from his old skipper Richard Jessel, dating from the mid-1970s, one including mention of their rescue of Ark Royal's crew; various newspaper cuttings, including a post-war article quoting the recipient; and copied research.