War Medal 1939-45

Awarded to Alfred William Newman RN (1889-1984). Obverse: head of King George VI. Legend: 'GEORGIVS VI D : G : BR : OMN : REX : F : D : INDIAE : IMP'. Reverse: A lion standing (left) on a prostrate dragon, its right paw resting on the latter's head. Inscription above: '1939 1945'. Reverse inscribed: 'CDR. A.W.NEWMAN A.M. R.N.' Fitted with a bar and blue ribbon with wide red borders and a narrow central red stripe with white borders.

Newman entered the Marine Society Training Ship ‘Warspite’ and was drafted into the Royal Navy in August 1903. He specialised in gunnery and torpedo work. During WWI he served on HMS ‘Laurel’ at the battle of Heligoland. He was promoted to Acting Gunner in 1915 and appointed Mate of HMS ‘Tetrarch’ in June 1917. He was awarded the Albert Medal for extracting the cartridges from a smoking box of cordite in the magazine. They were passed on deck and thrown overboard. Commander Newman was presented with the Albert Medal by King George V at Harwich in 1918. In April 1919 he was Mentioned in Dispatches for services in late 1918 and in December that year was promoted to Lieutenant. In 1939, Newman now a Lieutenant-Commander was recalled because of his unique knowledge of boom defence work. Promoted to Commander he was in West Africa from 1941-43 in charge of defending harbours in Gambia and from 1943-45 he was in charge of harbour defence based at Aden, covering the area from Suez to Bangkok. After further service in the Mediterranean Commander Newman retired in 1948. He died in 1984.

Object Details

ID: MED2041
Collection: Coins and medals
Type: War medal
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Metcalfe, Percy; Carter-Preston, Edward
Events: World War II, 1939-1945
Date made: circa 1945
People: Newman, Alfred William
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Overall: 36 mm
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