Interesting WWII MID & Efficiency Decoration awarded to J.L.D. Oakley 90th (City of London) Field Brigade Royal Artillery
£575.00An Interesting WW2 M.i.D. and Efficiency Decoration Group of 8 awarded to Major John Lawrence Drury Oakley, 90th (City of London) Field Brigade, Royal Artillery, comprising: 1939-45 Star, unnamed as issued; Africa Star, with ‘1st Army’ clasp upon ribbon, unnamed as issued; Italy Star, unnamed as issued; Defence and War Medals, 1939-45, the latter with bronze ‘M.i.D.’ oak leaf upon ribbon, these unnamed as issued; Coronation 1937, unnamed as issued; Group swing-mounted as worn, with matching set of miniatures and two contemporary photographs; Efficiency Decoration: London Gazette: 30 August, 1945M.i.D.: London Gazette: 19 July, 1945 – ‘in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Italy’Major John Lawrence Drury Oakley (1911) was born on 21 June 1911 in Islington, London, the son of Colonel Henry John Percy Oakley, M.C. T.D. Enlisting as a Second Lieutenant with his father’s regiment – the 90th (City of London) Field Brigade, Royal Artillery, on 26 July 1933, he was promoted to Captain on 16 June 1938, in the year before WW2. While specific published details of his WW2 service are scant, he is believed to have served as D.A.Q.M.G. to ‘5 Corps’ in the early years of WW2, seeing action first in North Africa and then later in Sicily.
According to family details, Oakley was later landed at Salerno and played a role in the ‘clean up’ which took place after the German massacres against local resistance forces in Naples, later taking part in the Battle of Monte Cassino. Following this, he apparently travelled to Athens, where he played a role as ‘Town Major’ while dealing with the local communist forces late on in the war. In 1945 he was awarded an M.i.D. and received the Efficiency Decoration for these services. He was promoted to Major on 9 March 1948, and was placed on the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers on 23 January 1952, and finally retired from further military service, having exceeded the age limit to belong to the T.A. Reserve, on 29 December 1962. In his civilian life he worked as a Patent and Trade Mark agent – serving for a time as President of the Institute of Trade Mark Agents – and was an active Freemason, serving as Intendant-General of the Divisional Grand Conclave of Sussex between 1973 and 1984. He died on 17 January 1984 at Hassocks, West Sussex.
See listing for his father's medals Colonel Henry F. Oakley also available for purchase.
Condition as shown in photographs
