For sale is a 1939 – 45 Star, War Medal (1939 – 45) both unnamed as issued.; Efficiency Medal (G.VI.R.) impressed named 6207107 PTE A.W. JERRUM. MX. Court mounted for display they come with copy picture, newspaper article, P.O.W. and medal roll extracts.
Albert Walter Perrin Jerrum was born on 22/2/1920 in Greenwich, London.
Pre WW2 he was serving with the Territorials in ‘A’ Company, 1/8th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. The unit was a Machine Gun Battalion, equipped with the Vickers Machine Gun.
It deployed to France at the start of the war for the campaign 1939 to 1940, it was part of the General Headquarters (GHQ) Troops and would be allocated as required.
It was in heavy contact with the Germans during the fall of France May – June 19140. It was attached to the 44th Division when the battalion history records that by the 23rd May several trucks and 24 guns had been lost in the heavy shelling and fighting at Knock, and the battalion could muster no more than 2 full companies of machine guns. ‘B’ and ‘D’, ‘A’ and ‘C” companies were subsequently amalgamated and reorganised as ordinary rifle companies with one machine gun section.
On the 27th Battalion Head Quarters and the composite company ‘A’ and “C” had moved to Doulin and were under heavy air attack, the battalion withdrew during the night, however Jurrum was captured by the Germans on the 27th.
He was transported to Stalag 20-B which was located in Malbork, Poland where he remained for most of the war. In the last dying days of the Reich the Germans dissolved the camp in January 1945, and the POWs were marched west. The march lasted three and a half months, during which the POWs struggled with cold, hunger, exhaustion, diseases, etc., and were even subjected to forced labor to clear cluttered roads and railroads after Allied bombings. He was liberated in July 1945.
He survived to be married in 1945. He transferred to Royal Electrical and mechanical Engineers post war and was awarded his Territorial Efficiency medal whilst serving with them in 1948.
He was employed by ‘Metal Box’ in Sussex, as the chief fire and security officer for over 28 years and was a member of the Dunkerque Association. He died on 22/1/1983
