WW1 AND WW2 DUNKIRK AND D DAY MERCANTILE MARINE MEDAL GROUP TO CAPTAIN PILOT MARDEN

Offered is a WW1 & WW2 medal group to Captain Essex James Marden, who served during the First & Second World Wars, the latter more importantly at Dunkirk and most likely D-Day.

British War and Mercantile Marine pair both impressed named ESSEX J MARDON; 1939 – 45 Star and British Defence Medal 1939 – 45, these last 2 both un named as issued. Period swing mounted for wear. Comes with copies seaman’s identity card (with photograph) WW1 & WW2 medal roll/card, 1939 census and newspaper articles.

Captain Essex James Marden was born on the 14^th December 1889 at Plymouth, he was a sailor by trade and by 1909 gained his 2^nd Mates certificate and in 1911 his 1^st Mates Certificate. His WW1 service qualified him for the British War and Mercantile Marine Medal. Between the wars he qualified as a Pilot and was working for “Trinity House”. Newspaper articles from 1937 give his rank as Captain and a Trinity Pilot, and in 1947 he rescued a drifting US seaplane in Torbay.

During the First World War, the Corporation served a number of functions: it buoyed shipping lanes and naval operations, moved lightvessels, and laid hundreds of buoys. During the Second World War, Trinity House kept sea lanes marked and lighted for Allied convoys. The Pilotage Service guided ships to their ports under hazardous conditions; at the time of the Dunkirk evacuation, a number of pilots helped in piloting vessels to and from the beaches.

In preparation for the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, Trinity House laid 73 lighted buoys and two lightvessels to indicate a safe route for landing craft. Trinity House pilots were responsible for all commercial vessels involved and many of the service vessels. In the month following D-Day, nearly 3,000 vessels were handled by 88 river pilots and nearly 2,000 ships by 115 sea pilots working day and night.

Captain Marden died on the 27 July 1972 in Hammersmith Hospital, London.