A Second War Salerno landings D.S.M. group of six awarded to Stoker Petty Officer O. L....

A Second War Salerno landings D.S.M. group of six awarded to Stoker Petty Officer O. L. Blondel, Royal Navy, who was subsequently among those lost when H.M.S. Laforey was torpedoed by U-223 off Palermo in March 1944 Distinguished Service Medal, G.VI.R. (Sto. P.O. O. L. Blondel. P/KX. 81386) engraved naming; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; War Medal 1939-45, mounted for display, extremely fine (6) £1,400-£1,800 --- Importation Duty This lot is subject to importation duty of 5% on the hammer price unless exported outside the UK --- --- D.S.M. London Gazette 23 May 1944: ‘For distinguished services in connection with operations which led to successful landings in Sicily and at Salerno.’ The original recommendation states: ‘H.M.S. Laforey was in action with enemy batteries at the landing at Salerno on 9 September 1943. She was hit by five shells which damaged both boiler rooms and temporarily cut power to ‘B’ and ‘X’ turrets. Damage was soon repaired and the ship destroyed the battery. Stoker Petty Officer Blondel was in charge of No. 2 boiler room when several large pieces of shrapnel from an H.E. shell - which had exploded in No. 1 boiler room uptakes - penetrated the forward bulkhead of No. 2 boiler room. The shrapnel damaged a steam pipe and the main ring on the starboard side and several pieces entered the boiler air casings, scoring, as was subsequently discovered, 28 boiler tubes. He realised that No. 1 boiler room had been hit, and he took charge of the situation most commendably, isolating the systems of No. 1 boiler room, and maintaining the steam pressure in his own boiler.’ Osmond Laurie Blondel was born in Guernsey on 14 February 1913, and was serving as a Stoker in the Royal Navy on the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939. The exact date of his joining the destroyer H.M.S. Laforey remains unknown but by virtue of his D.S.M.-winning exploits off Salerno in September 1943 - and subsequent loss in March 1944 - we do know that he served under two highly distinguished skippers: Captain R. M. J. Hutton, D.S.O. and 2 Bars, R.N. and Captain H. T. ‘Beaky’ Armstrong, D.S.O. & Bar, D.S.C. & Bar, R.N. He may well have joined Laforey on her commissioning in August 1941, in which case he would have witnessed much action on the Malta run and assisted in the rescue of crew members from the carriers Ark Royal and Eagle, and would also have been present at the destruction of the Italian submarine Ascianghi in July 1943. In September 1943, following her part in the Salerno landings, Captain H. T. Armstrong, R.N., took command, under whom Blondel would have participated in various bombardments of enemy positions on the west coast of Italy. On 29 March 1944, however, in a protracted action with the U-223 off Palermo, the crippled U-boat managed to hit and sink Laforey with a Gnat torpedo: ‘Beaky’ Armstrong, Blondel and over 180 of their shipmates lost their lives. The son of Osmond and Doris Blondel, and the husband of Ann Blondel of Southsea, Hampshire, he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. Sold with copied research including relevant extracts of Admiralty report on operation ‘Avalanche’ and recommendation for D.S.M.