1558693 Gunner Samuel Baxter FARRAR, CdeG, Gun Fitter, 113 LAA Regt., Royal Artillery

Sam was my Great uncle who passed away in 1996.
It was only then that I found out he was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre for his part at Joe's bridge. He was in C troop, 368 Battery 113 LAA.
I've read the war diaries up to the end of 1944, found in other parts of these fora. I'd like read the 1945 diaries and intend to visit Kew. Is there any other way to read them. Surely others before me must have been to Kew and photographed them?.
Is there any other docs I can read which might give me more details about Sam's involvement, I already have his service record. I'd love to see maps of the period.

 

Anthony,

I am not a medal expert, others here are. Recent research indicated that any foreign medal awarded needed to be authorised by the King, so it possible his commendation and decision are in the National Archives. The decision to make the award should appear in The London Gazette.

If you search using 368 battery site:ww2talk.com it will show you a small number of threads specifically on the battery and a few where they appear (368 was in use by other artillery regiments).

The Belgian military appear to have special affection for being hosted here in WW2, there is annual parade in London. It might be an option to ask them for help via the Embassy.

We do have Belgian members, so they may help.

Where was Joe's Bridge?

 

Joe's Bridge - Wikipedia
Joe's Bridge is the nickname given to Bridge No.9 on the Bocholt-Herentals Canal outside the town of Neerpelt, in the Belgian city of Lommel just south of the Belgian-Dutch border


Joe's Bridge

 

You may find member Derek Barton’s excellent site of interest:

113 (Durham Light Infantry) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA (TA) - The Royal Artillery 1939-45

With regard to Kew, a few members here kindly offer a copying service and visit Kew regularly. Both Gary Tankard and Andy (member DREW5233) have helped me out with diaries, they may possibly have already copied the ones you’re after for a fellow member here, you never know your luck. Might be worth asking them, although I think you need to have made five posts here before you can message anyone.

 

Anthony,

Wiki (thanks to CL1) refers to a likely place for one map:

 

See Tags for some background info

• joe's bridge | WW2Talk

in particular

• Joe's Bridge or someone else's

also

• 113 light anti aircraft regiment ra | WW2Talk

You probably already have his citation but placing it here for record
Recommendation for Award for Farrar, Samuel Baxter Rank: Gunner Service No: ... | The National Archives
Reference: WO 373/111/1327
Name Farrar, Samuel Baxter
Rank: Gunner
Service No: 1558693
Regiment: 113 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery
Theatre of Combat or Operation: Foreign to British: Belgium
Award: Croix de Guerre with Palm
Date of announcement in London Gazette: 08 December 1945

 

Thanks all for the info, I had the citation already but one thing puzzles me. It is signed by a British officer.
Why wasn't he awarded a British gallantry medal instead of the Belgian one.

 

From my understanding of the process for Foreign to British, there would first be an offer by the foreign nation of so many awards in each particular grade. [I've seen letters, in WO 373 Series files at Kew, discussing such offers.]

The British authorities would, so it seems to me, then allocate a number of certain medals at each grade to regiments or corps who'd served in the Theatre and these units would then put forward their candidates.

Many of the eventual recipients would probably have missed out on British awards, by being overlooked or simply being behind others in the unit 'queue', or even having recommendations declined due to criteria, insufficient detail, etc, during the Committee process. The general trend is to see Immediate awards at the start of a campaign give way to Periodic awards towards the end or after: the latter deal with a consistent level of service throughout while the former are for a single action. You can almost imagine a CO sitting down with a list of those not already in possession of a medal, trying to ensure that these deserving chaps get some recognition. So I think Foreign to British awards are another opportunity for a Unit to reward the actions of yet more individuals.
(I haven't seen actual proof of any campaign quotas imposed upon regiments from the top down but I suspect something must've been in place aside from the Award Committee, whose job it was to evaluate details given in citations against criteria for each level of award.)


edit:
If it's of any interest, whilst looking through WO 373/111, I saw a few other recommendations for 113 LAA regiment, and of those I read, the citations were for earlier actions.