An October 1918 Military Cross group to Temporary 2nd Lieut John William Willey DLI / An underage Soldier

Cased GV Military Cross

1914/15 Star - correctly impressed 20635 Pte J. W. Willey. G.GDS

Pair - Correctly impressed 2. Lieut. J. W. Willey.

With contemporary miniatures, court mounted as worn.

With two copy photographs of the recipient in Grenadier Guards uniform, one shows him with a Lewis Gun badge on his arm. 

 

The group is direct from the family, and this is the first time it has been offered for sale.

 

 

John William Routledge Willey was born on the 24th of September 1897 , in Stockton on Tees. The son of John William (1854-1935) and Lucinda Rachel. 

 

At the time of the 1911 census, John was living with his family at 67 Hartington Road, Stockton on Tees. He was listed as a Scholar, and his father's profession was a Billposter. 

 

Willey first served as a Private with the Grenadier Guards landing in France on the 28th July 1915. At the time, he was seventeen years and ten months old. From one of the photographs present, we can see he served with the 2nd Battalion and was a Lewis Gunner. 

 

 

He was commissioned a Temporary Second Lieutenant and posted to the 13th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. On the 24th of October 1918, he won the Military Cross in the  following circumstances,

 

T./2nd Lt. John William Willey, Dur. L.I , attd. 13th Bn. At Rue du Pont and south-east of Fontaine au Bois on the 24th October, 1918, as acting adjutant when his C.O. was wounded, he rendered invaluable assistance in reorganising the Battalion. It was largely due to his energy and coolness that the attack continued and was successful.

 

The award was announced in London Gazette in April 1919, with the citation being published in December 1919.