British India General Service Medal Seaforth Highlanders x3 WIA 1914 1915 1917 for Sale

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British India General Service Medal Seaforth Highlanders x3 WIA 1914 1915 1917 For Sale

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British India General Service Medal Seaforth Highlanders x3 WIA 1914 1915 1917:
$316.45

IndiaGeneral Service Medal North West Frontier 1908 – Private John Gordon – 1stBattalion Seaforth Highlanders, Later 2nd Battalion

IndiaGeneral Service Medal North West Frontier 1908 (9875 Pte J. Gordon. 1st Bn. Sea Highrs) very fine (1)

JohnGordon was born inInverness, Scotland in 1883. He enlisted into the Seaforth Highlanders at FortGeorge on the 12th December 1901 aged 18 and 2 months old while working as ashepherd. He listed his next of kin as his brother, William Gordon, also ashepherd at Lochalsh, Ross-shire.

John firstserved with the 2nd Battalion but was transferred to a draft for the1st Bn. which was leaving for Egypt where the 1st Bn. hadbeen since 1898. Private Gordon arrived in Egypt on the 22nd March1902 and remained there until the 17th March 1903. The Battalion sailedfrom Egypt to Bombay in February 1903 and was stationed in Nasirabad. Much ofits training took place in the same area the 72nd had fought duringthe India Mutiny campaigns of 1858. Private Gordon returned home for a shortperiod until October 1903 when he rejoined the 1st Seaforths inIndia. In late 1905 the Battalion moved to Nowshera. It spent the summer of1907 at Ghora Dhaka in the Murree Hills.

InFebruary 1908 the 1st Seaforth Highlanders formed part of a punitiveexpedition against the Zakka Khel tribe on the North West Frontier. The twobrigades of the Bazar Valley Field Force were involved in some hard fighting asthey destroyed the villages of the rebel tribesmen. Two months later the 1stSeaforths took part in a further expedition against the turbulent Mohmand tribeon the North West Frontier. Between 30,000 and 40,000 Mohmands and Afghans werethreating to cross the frontier, and a force of three brigades was sent tooppose them. In a tough campaign of mountain warfare that lasted six weeks, theincursion was suppressed with some severity, and 170 fortified towersdestroyed.

The 1stSeaforths remained in India until 1914 being stationed at Nowshera (1905-1909),Peshawar (1909), Shahjahanpur (1909), Chaubattia and Bareilly (1910-1912), Agra(1912-1914). The Battalion took part in King George V’s visit to Delhi in 1911for his Coronation Durbar. On the 11th December the King presentedthe 1st Seaforths with its eight stand of colours.

PrivateGordon fought on the North West Frontier in 1908 and received the India GeneralService Medal with “North West Frontier 1908” clasp. He arrived back in Britainon the 30th December 1909 and transferred to the Army Reserve on the1st January 1910, having served the terms of his engagement. On the12th December 1913, 12 years after enlisting, he signed on again andcontinued service in the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, SeaforthHighlanders.

With theoutbreak of war, and the 1st Seaforths still being in India, PrivateGordon was called up from the Reserve and posted to the 2ndBattalion Seaforth Highlanders. He arrived in France on the 27thAugust 1914, the Battalion being part of the 10th Brigade in the 4thInfantry Division, BEF. The 2nd Seaforths first went into action atLe Cateau. The Battalion the fought during the retreat from Mons until theGerman advance was halted.

On the 13thOctober 1914 the 2nd Seaforths took part in the capture of theGerman held village of Meteren. It was one of the last actions to be fought inopen countryside before the miserable trench warfare developed at the end of1914. This action is well written up in the Battalion War Diary which lists 4Officers Wounded, 18 Other Ranks Killed, 66 Wounded and 1 Missing. One of thosewounded in the action was Private John Gordon. He received a gun shot wound tothe head, shoulder and back. After going through casualty cleaing stations andhospitals set up on the coast, he arrived back in Britain on the 27thDecember 1914. He wound recover from these wounds and land back in France onthe 19th March 1915.

This timePrivate Gordon was posted back to the 1st Battalion of theSeaforths. He and the 1st Seaforths would see action at NeuveChapelle, Aubers Ridge, and Loos. On the 3rd November 1915 the 1stSeaforths took over trenches at the Ruis-de-Bois and much German sniping andshelling was active that day. Private Gordon was one of nine casualties thatday (3 Killed, 6 Wounded). He received a gun shot wound to the neck no doubtfrom a sniper. He once again returned home on the 9th November torecover.

On the 3rdJanuary 1916, Private Gordon returned once again to France. He was posted tothe 2nd Seaforths. The Battalion was involved in many minoroperations until the 1st July 1916 when the Battalion went over thetop on the 1st Day of the Somme. The objective was Beaumont Hameland Drummer Ritchie of the Battalion received the Victoria Cross for hisactions that day.

After awinter in the trenches the 2nd Seaforths took part in the attacks atArras in April-May 1917. In the attack by the 4th Division on the 9thApril the battalion advanced successfully to their objective 4 and a half milesinside the German lines. But by the 11th the attacks descended intothe deadly stalemate of the trench warfare. In the attack on the factory atFampoux, the 2nd Seaforths suffered 526 Casualties, amounting to 93%of the battalion’s strength. One of those wounded was Private Gordon, for thethird time in this war. He returned home on the 21st April 1917 andwound not go back to France again. Private Gordon was discharged on the 20thJanuary 1919 and awarded the Silver War Badge.

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