Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, to include the Brian Ritchie Collection (Part II)

Five: Acting Petty Officer G. H. T. King, Royal Navy

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star, clasp, France and Germany; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45; Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., G.VI.R., 1st issue (J. 100047 A./P.O., H.M.S. Barham), edge bruise to the last, otherwise good very fine (5) £100-120

George Henry Thomas King was born at Alverstoke, Hampshire in July 1905 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in December 1920. He was awarded his L.S. & G.C. Medal in July 1938. Having won Battle Honours for “Matapan 1941”, “Crete 1941” and “Mediterranean 1941”, the Barham was torpedoed and sunk in November of the same year. Her loss was famously captured on film, when she rolled over and sank in five minutes, her magazines exploding with the loss of 850 men as she went down.