Description

Offered is a General Service Medal (1918) with clasp IRAQ, impressed named 35468 SJT. J. HUNTER E. YORK.R. Comes with copies WW1, Afghanistan and Iraq medal rolls.

Also entitled to 1914 – 15 Star, British War and Victory Medal, India General Service Medal 1908 with clasp NORTH WEST FRONTIER 1919 and probably the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.

Colour Sergeant James Hunter was born on the 25^th July 1889. A pre war regular, he was serving with the 1^st Battalion Durham Light Infantry who were then stationed in India. They had been since 1902 when they finished service in the Boer War. Based on his service number of 10235 it is believed that he joined between September 1907 and April 1908 as service numbers 10186 joined on 30th September 1907 & 10350 joined on 22nd April 1908. He would have been a very good soldier as by August 1914 he was 25 years old and a Sergeant.

The battalion remained in India fighting small police actions against the Mohmand and other frontier tribes between 1915 and 1917. C/Sgt Hunter qualified for the 14 – 15 Star due when in action in the Tochi Valley (Afghanistan) 5/8/1914. In November 1917, 1st Bn D.L.I. left Nowshera for the relative peace of Rawalpindi and was there on 11 November 1918, when the Armistice ending the First World War came into effect. Peace, however, did not come to British India and there was widespread rioting against continuing British rule.

In 1919, an Afghan Army, taking advantage of the political unrest in India, crossed the border. The Afghan invasion was quickly defeated. This qualified  Hunter for the India General Service Medal 1908, with clasp NORTH WEST FRONTIER 1919.

In late 1919, the 1st Battalion D.L.I. began to return to Britain, it would have been around this date that C/Sgt Hunter and others transferred to the 2^nd Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment. The East Yorkshires had just returned to India after the armistice, and served in Basra and Iraq thus qualifying for the GSM (which is now offered for sale). On joining the E. Yorkshire Regiment he was given the new service number 35468 and then 4334715. As he was still serving post WW1, his records will still held by the Army Records Office. As he appears on the Army Other Ranks Discharges for 1939-1971, it is possible that he served WW2 as well.