Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The group of eight mounted medals attributed to Major-General N. A. Aferi, Ghanian Forces, late Royal West Africa Frontier Force

Ghana, Republic, Every Ready Medal, silver; Ghana United Nations Medal, with Congo bar; Ghana Independece Medal 1960; Long and Efficient Service Star; Great Britain, Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953; U.N. Medal, 1 clasp, Congo, all unnamed as issued, mounted court-style as worn, good very fine (8) £200-£240

Nathan Apea Aferi was born at Mampong-Akuapen, Gold Coast, on 21 September 1922, and served during the latter stages of the Second World War with the Royal West African Frontier Force. He was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in 1954, and later trained at the Staff College, Camberley. Advanced Lieutenant-Colonel in the Ghanian Forces, he served with the United Nations Operation in the Congo, where he is reported to have been on guard at Radio Congo when Patrice Lumumba attempted a broadcast in the confusion around the time of Congo's independence in 1960 from Belgium. Promoted Major-General, he was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces in July 1965, and retired from the Army on 7 June 1966. Subsequently pursuing a diplomatic career, he served as Ghanian Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1972 to 1975. In addition to his mounted group of medals he was awarded the Honour of Merit First Class in 1963, and the Ghanian Distinguished Service Order in 1965, as well as receiving various honorary foreign awards. Twice married, firstly to Miss Rose Obeng in 1946, and then to Mad Wilhelmina Classpeter in 2001, in later life he was an enthusiastic Gospel singer at the Soul Clinic International Church in Accra. He died in Accra on 8 April 2003, and was buried with full military honours.

Sold with the recipients Burial and Funeral Programme, containing many tributes to and photographs of the recipient; and a post-mortem photograph of the recipient in his open casket wearing his medals.