A Fascinating WW2 ‘Escape and Evasion’ B.E.M. and L.S.G.C. Group of 5 awarded to Sergeant Stanley Anthony Fennell, Royal Air Force, late 23 Field Company, Royal Engineers, who was taken prisoner of war during the ‘Anzio Landings’, and whose account of the battle and his subsequent experiences as a 'P.O.W.' were recorded in the course of several hours of first-hand audio interviews taken by the Imperial War Museum, comprising: British Empire Medal (Military), E.II.R. (4027172 Sgt. Stanley A. Fennell, R.A.F.); 1939-45 Star (14325335 L/Cpl. Fennell. S.A. R.E.); Italy Star (14325335 L/Cpl. Fennell. S.A. R.E.);War Medal, 1939-45 (14325335 L/Cpl. Fennell. S.A. R.E.); Royal Air Force Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, E.II.R. (4027172 Sgt. S. A. Fennell. R.A.F.); Group swing-mounted (stars in incorrect order), first and last officially named, remainder privately engraved typical abrasions to edge of first, toned, good very fine (5) B.E.M.: London Gazette: 10 June 1961 (Birthday Honours)Sergeant Stanley Anthony Fennell, was born in Edmonton, London on 11 June 1924, and worked as a toolmaker before initially tried to join the R.A.F. in 1941 for WW2 service, having been an OTC cadet. Frustratingly, he was not allowed to do so owing to his age, being then just 16, and tearing up his papers, he was told ‘now you’re in the Army’ joining the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry for a brief time. Coming to understand his skills with tools and equipment, he was then sent to the Royal Engineers at Ripon. While he did not fight in the Western Desert, he undertook dangerous mine-clearing & ordnance work in Tunisia, removing German mines and booby-traps.Still only 17, he served with 23 Field Company, R.E. and took part in the Anzio landings and subsequent fighting in January 1944, during which he was taken captive as a prisoner of war. Treated kindly by his German captors, who saw him only as a boy (protecting him from subsequent British fire, and providing him with a bottle of wine to settle him), he was sent initially to Rome, then to Laterina via Nola, before being sent by train to Germany – first at Moosburg (Stalag VII-A) and then to Lamsdorf (Stalag VIII-B). During a march eastwards from Poland to the Danube late in the war, he managed to escape his column by hiding in the rafters of a large barn, as he was struggling to march owing to a foot injury. He was some days later discovered by an elderly German farmer who secretly provided him with food and milk despite the activities of the Waffen S.S. & Hitler Youth below. He was later joined by a German deserter, and remaining there for a period of 2 weeks or so, he made a further escape to sliding down a potato chute to hide in stone cellar, where he was cared for by a German mother & children. He was finally freed by American troops who liberated the village.Re-enlisting for service (his service number indicated that he did so in 1946-47) finally in the R.A.F., he was awarded the L.S.G.C. on 10 June 1961, and later died at Beccles, Suffolk, on 10 April 1994. His experiences as a soldier were recorded in a detailed series of remarkable interviews conducted by the ‘Imperial War Museum Oral History Project’ over 7 reels (378 minutes of first-hand interviews), which were later included in part in the ‘Forgotten Voices of the Second World War’ by Max Hastings. Offered with original, named Buckingham Palace transmission slip for his B.E.M.

Estimate: GBP 400 - 600