A June 1917 Kerensky Offensive Russian Medal of St George Group to POM Helyer RNAS / Armoured Cars

Great War Pair correctly impressed F.29405 J.S.Helyer. P.O.M. R.N.A.S.

Russian Medal of St George 4th Class, number to the reverse' No 196798' 

 

Sold with matching cased miniatures.

 

Condition GVF

 

Sold with a cabinet photograph of the recipient, taken in Odesa, Ukraine. 

 

This is the first time the group has been listed for sale. 

 

John Stanley Helyer was born in Odesa on the 24th of December 1897, the son of Albert John and Eveline Sarah Helyer. Both his parents were British nationals; it seems his father's occupation as a Ship Surveyor had taken the family to the Ukraine.

 

By 1911, John was a boarder at Cranbrook School in Kent, founded in 1518. When he attested on the 4th of April 1917, he gave his occupation as Shipbuilder (apprentice). He held the rank of Petty Officer Mechanic (P.O.M). 

 

Part of the British Armoured Car Expeditionary Force, Helyer and his comrades fought alongside the Russian Imperial Army until the Bolshevik Revolution on the 7th of November 1917. The ACEF saw action in  Galicia, Romania and the Caucasus Mountains; the unit consisted of 550 men and officers and operated 45 armoured cars. At Brzezany, Ukraine, then part of Galicia, during Kerensky's Summer Offensive, Helyer would be decorated with the Russian Medal of St George 4th Class. His citation is the same as that of 29408 Po A Hutchinson. 

 

The original citation is as follows;

 

'With a Machine Gun Detachment at Brzezany on the 18th June 1917, by their fire, they cleared a passage in the enemy barbed wire, entanglements thus enabling the infantry to attack. They worked brilliantly and showed great courage under heavy fire.' 

 

After the unit was evacuated following the revolution, Helyer was stationed on the Embankment in London with the 28th London Regt (TA). He was discharged on the 3rd of February 1919.

 

In civilian life, he became very successful; like his father, he became a Ship Surveyor for Llyods. He travelled the world for work, and in 1934, just after the rise of the Nazis, he was in Dusseldorf inspecting a Siemens-Martin Steel Air Receiver. 

 

He married, resided in London and Sheffield and, in the final years of his life, moved to 11 Walton Avenue, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough. When he passed away in December 1969, he left £25,820.00