Efficiency medal group to Capt (Hon) D A Crofts RA (with ephemera), British (WWII & later)

Title	Efficiency medal group to Capt (Hon) D A Crofts RA (with ephemera)
Nationality	British
Period	WWII & later

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This group was bought at one remove from the family via a London auction house, and comes with a Slidex signals code in its green case with its instruction manual and three principal card settings, as well as separately printed settings for D Day and subsequent days, and a pair of binoculars (7 x 50).

It also comes with a London Gazette supplement for 1950 on the invasion of Sicily and a London Gazette supplement for June 1950 on the Allied Army in Italy from September 1943-December 1944.

Capt Crofts served in Italy, as well as later in France, as a Bombardment Liaison Officer on HMS Flores, a Dutch gun boat, just prior to and during the D Day landings. HMS FLores was involved in the bombardment of a German coastal battery near the village of Arromanches les Bains, north-east of Bayeux, a battery covering the beach on which one of the Allied landings took place. Thus he witnessed and was directly involved in the first shots fired by the Navy in the D Day landings. A copy from The West Australian of Saturday 24 June 1944, detailing HMS Flores' story, is included. Crofts' artillery plotting board is currently in a D Day display at the Imperial War Museum - it details him as BLO for No 2 Combined Operations Bombardment Unit controlling artillery fire from naval destroyers during the invasion.

The Efficiency medal was gazetted very late (in 1993). My assumption is that all the medals are very late issues, especially as the stars have no soldering / brazing on the joins. They are lacquered. The ribbons, though original, have selotape marks on the back, having been mounted in a glazed frame. The condition of the medals throughout is near EF and the Efficiency medal is named 'Lt D A Crofts RA'.

The binoculars are in poor shape internally, as the vision is very cloudy through age and poor storage. The interior lining of the leather case is somewhat damaged, but it is marked with his initials and they are Rangefinder binoculars, as they have gradation lines on the lenses.

There is a handful of other ranks RA badges, which came in with this lot: RA shoulder title, collar dog, cap badge, all in brass, plus three officer's bronze pips.

If you want to comment on this item—re quality, age, etc—please email me.

[Militaria : Medals : British : 20th Century]

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