Medals to The Gordon Highlanders and Associated Units from the Collection of A.J. Henderson

Four: Lance-Corporal R. E. Beckwith, Cape Town Highlanders

1939-45 Star; Africa Star, clasp, 8th Army; War Medal 1939-45, M.I.D. oak leaf; Africa Service Medal, all officially inscribed ‘14755 R. E. Beckwith’, together with related next of kin brooch, the reverse officially numbered ‘338’, original Union Defence Forces condolence slip and a portrait photograph, good very fine and better (5) £60-80

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals to The Gordon Highlanders and Associated Units from the Collection of A.J. Henderson.

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Robert Emerson Beckwith, who was born in Cape Town in November 1922, enlisted in the Cape Town Highlanders in July 1940. Having carried out a P.O.W. escort run between Port Tewfik and Durban in early 1941, Beckwith was embarked with his unit for Suez in June of the same year. Subsequently going into action with the 8th Army, Beckwith was awarded a mention in despatches for his deeds on 31 August 1942 (London Gazette 24 June 1943), when a member of a night patrol that had a successful encounter with the enemy - see Neil Orpen’s The Cape Town Highlanders 1885-1970 for full details. Tragically, on the night of 23-24 October, during the early stages of the second Battle of El Alamein, Beckwith was killed in action. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt.