WW2 Chindits Burma medal group sold at £1,000 in Tamworth auction

Sale date Thursday 20th August

THE CHINDIT medals archive of a soldier who fought in Burma during World War Two has sold at auction in Tamworth for £1,000.

Richard Winterton Auctioneers' Militaria Sale today, Thursday, August 20, included two interesting lots relating to the British Army Parachute Regiment and the Burma campaign during the Second World War.

The Chindits was a British-led long-range penetration special force fighting deep behind Japanese lines in Burma during WW2, disrupting supply lines, railways and communications.

The Second World War Burma Star Chindits medal group which went under the hammer related to Raymond Douglas Eastbury, born March 19 1923 in Birmingham.

Eastbury first enlisted in the Army as a 16-year-old in 1939 and went on to join the Army Air Corps.

He was sent to fight in the Burma campaign and then gained his full parachute wings in 1945.

Lot 24 in today's auction included Eastbury's Burma Star, 1939-1945 Star, 1939-1945 War Medal and Defence Medal, plus a photo of the soldier in uniform and another of him in later life, his Chindits insignia, Parachute Regiment cloth shoulder title and 44th Indian Airborne cloth patches.

The lot included a military Jaeger-LeCoultre pocket watch, original documents relating to Eastbury, and his father's WW1 medal pair correctly impressed to 25108 PTE S Eastbury R WAR R.

There was also a boxed Imperial Service medal named to Reginald Tomlinson, related to Eastbury by marriage.

A second Burma-related lot comprised an interesting archive of documents, paperwork, badges and formation patches linked to Arhur Kenneth Vale, of Selly Oak, Birmingham.

Vale also served with the Parachute Regiment in Burma during WW2, having first enlisted into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment before his transfer to The Paras.

The archive of paperwork included a pass book, pay book, documents, letter and discharge certificate.

Badges included cloth Pegasus Formation patches, a pair of 14th Army Formation patches, a pair of Eastern Command British Army District Formation patches and a number of metal and cloth formation signs.

No medals were included with the lot, which sold at £850.

For more information or to book a free valuation of all types of medals and militaria with Jeff Clark at The Tamworth Auction Rooms in Church Street, call 01827 217746 or email tamworth@richardwinterton.co.uk.

Free valuations and home visits for large collections and house clearances are also available.