The outstanding Second War 'North West Europe' D.S.O., 1940 Dunkirk 'Immediate' M.C. group o...

The outstanding Second War ‘North West Europe’ D.S.O., 1940 Dunkirk ‘Immediate’ M.C. group of eleven awarded to Brigadier A. J. D. Turner, Suffolk Regiment, later Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, who was awarded the D.S.O. for his gallantry and leadership as a Battalion Commander during the attack at Bemmel in Holland on 4 October 1944; he had previously been awarded the M.C. for his gallantry on the Dunkirk beachhead Bray Les Dunes on 29 May 1940. He later served as Commanding Officer of the Worker’s Brigade of the Ghanaian Army Distinguished Service Order, G.VI.R., silver-gilt and enamel, reverse officially dated 1945, with integral top riband bar; Military Cross, G.VI.R. reverse officially dated 1940; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Burma Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 2 clasps, Cyprus, Near East (Brig. A. J. D. Turner. D.S.O. M.C., Staff.), minor official correction to unit; Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued; Coronation 1953, unnamed as issued, mounted court-style for display purposes; together with the recipient’s three card identity discs, all stamped to him in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, good very fine and better (11) £5,000-£7,000 --- D.S.O. London Gazette 1 March 1945: The original Recommendation, dated 8 October 1944, states: ‘At Bemmel on 4 October 1944 Lieutenant Colonel Turner was in command of 1st Hampshires who were taking part in an attack. Just as the attack started violent and very concentrated artillery fire was brought to bear by the enemy on Lieutenant Colonel Turner’s command post, knocking him down and killing and wounding most of the Officers and men in the command post. It also destroyed all his communications. He soon realised that the command post was under direct observation, and any movement brought more fire. Lieutenant Colonel Turner showed outstanding courage by successfully organising evacuation of the command post under very heavy fire. Knowing that he was temporarily out of touch by signal with his company, he immediately went forward on foot to the forward companies and personally directed the attack. By his outstanding courage and leadership all the Battalion objectives were gained despite intense artillery and mortar fire, and very stubborn resistance by the enemy.’ M.C. London Gazette 27 August 1940: ‘For valuable services during the evacuation of the Dunkirk beaches. This officer showed a fine disregard of his personal safety throughout the evacuation. Always extremely fit, he did an immense amount of hard and dangerous work, showing a fine readiness to face any sort of unpleasant and difficult task without question. He proved himself utterly reliable and steady in most trying circumstances - his coolness being remarkable, and a grand example to the men.’ Arthur James Dillon Turner was born in Abbottabad, North West Frontier Province, India, on 19 September 1907, the son of Brigadier General A. J. Turner, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., and was educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant into the Suffolk Regiment on 2 February 1928, seeing service with the 1st Battalion. At the time his Battalion was based at home, and he served as a Platoon Commander, being promoted to Lieutenant on 2 February 1931. He was then seconded for service to the Royal West African Frontier Force in Sierra Leone where he served as a Platoon Commander from 10 August 1932 to 2 February 1935, and during which period he returned home to represent Sierra Leone at Bisley, shooting as part of the team captained by Sir A. Hodson, and won for the team The Barrett Imperial Challenge Cup of which he wrote: ‘I tried the last shot at 1,000 yards and got a bull which gave Sierra Leone a one point win’. Turner was also the highest scorer on his team. Turner rejoined the 1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment at Blackdown Camp, but then proceeded overseas to Madras in India to serve as a Platoon Commander with the 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, and whilst out there was seconded to the Staff from 16 February 1936, and then served as a Station Staff Officer 1st Grade in India from that date till 13 December 1937, during which period he was promoted to Captain on 1 May 1936. He was posted home to attend the Staff College at Camberley from 21 January 1938, and on 15 February 1939 was appointed a Staff Captain with the Aldershot Command, which role he performed till 1 September 1939. Two days later the Second World War was declared. Retreat from Dunkirk - Immediate M.C. Turner was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant General of 1st Corps from 2nd September 1939 through to 1st July 1940, having been promoted to Acting Major on 3rd September 1939, and then to Temporary Major from 3rd December 1939, he then saw service out in France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1940, and was involved in the retreat to Dunkirk, and then assisted in the evacuation of men from the beaches at Dunkirk, being based in the White House at Bray Les Dunes, it was here that he performed the deeds which led to the award of the Military Cross. Further details of his time at Dunkirk comes from correspondence at a later date, one of which confirms that he won his Military Cross for his actions at Bray Les Dunes on 29 May 1940, and one of his fellow officers was John Spencer Churchill, nephew of the Prime Minister, who later led a charmed life as a Commando Officer in the Mediterranean during the war, but who at the time sketched an image of the evacuation at Dunkirk, including of the White House at Bray Les Dunes, which was later published in the Daily Telegraph on 15 June 1954, which prompted Turner, by then a Brigadier, to write and enquire about this image, and in return received as response from not only John Churchill himself, promising to forward an image of the scene discussed, but also detailing ‘I saw F.M. Alexander at Winston’s birthday party last year…’ As Turner confirmed in his original letter to the Daily Telegraph ‘for me your sketch has a particular value for it was at Bray Les Dunes on 29th May (according to the citation) that I was honoured with an immediate award of the M.C. At the time of Dunkirk I knew John Churchill well…’, he additionally mentions that ‘the last four officers to leave the little white house were Lieutenant-General (later Field Marshal Lord) Alexander, Lieutenant-Colonel (later Major-General Sir) John Winterton, Major (later Major-General) Bob Ransome, and myself - then Captain’. Further to this, Turner received a letter from one Mr. H. Hickman, who was then in June 1954 an Established Civil Servant at the Base Ordnance Depot in Bicester, but he been, at the time of Dunkirk, a Sergeant in the King’s Own Royal Regiment, and as he writes: ‘although you may not remember me I had the pleasure of getting certain instructions from you on the night of 30 May 1940. You may remember ordering me to get the French troops out of the queues and tell them to move further along the beaches where they were to be taken off. I had quite an interesting time carrying out this order in the semi darkness…’ Initially in May 1940 Turner had been based with 1st Divisional Headquarters at Douai, but with the advance of the German forces, was pushed back to Armentieres and then to the Dunkirk beaches at Bray Les Dune’s where the Headquarters took over the White House. As his diary recalls: ‘On 10 May left Douai and went to advanced Corps HQ just south of Belgian border for night’; ‘on 11 May advanced into Belgium spent night near Grammont billeted on Flemish couple…’ From 13 to 15 May he was in Brussels, and on ‘15 M...