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Auction: 25001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 352

The 'Trench Raid 1918' D.C.M., 'Asiago Plateau August 1918' Al Valore group of five awarded to Company Sergeant-Major H. Loughman, 2nd Battalion, Border Regiment, who rushed and cleared two machine gun posts during a raid in 1918

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (6445 C.S.Mjr: H. Loughman. 2/Bord:R.); 1914-15 Star (6445 Sjt. H. Loughman. Bord. R.); British War and Victory Medals (6445 W.O.Cl.2. H. Loughman. Bord. R.); Italy, Kingdom, Al Valore Militare, silver issue (Altipiano D'Asiago H. Loughman 8-9 Agosto 1918), good very fine (5)

D.C.M. London Gazette 15 November 1918, the original citation states:

'For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in a raid. He was with the leading platoon, and when the first lines of his company were held up by hidden wire and very heavy machine-gun fire, he dashed forward
with a few men and rushed two machine guns one after another, killing or capturing the teams. This action enabled his company to reform and successfully rush the objective. He showed magnificent courage and rendered most valuable service.'

Al Valore Militare London Gazette 29 November 1918.

Herbert Loughman entered the war in France on 22 March 1915 with the 2nd Battalion, Border Regiment. The unit saw action at the battles of Neuve Chappelle, Aubers Ridge and Festubert, Loughman was noted as wounded in action in the Lancashire Evening Post casualty list of 15 October 1915. They saw heavy action on the Somme and at Passchendaele before being posted to Italy in 1918.

There they were present for the Second Battle of the Piave River and later the fighting on the Asiago Plateau. It was there that Loughman won his Al Valore and likely also the D.C.M. The Whitehaven Advertiser and Cleator Moor and Egremont Observer in October 1918 states that he was awarded the D.C.M. and Al Valore for services in Italy. The Battalion was later in action at Vittorio Veneto and finished the war in Italy.

Loughman was demobilised and appears in the newspapers not long after the war being fined for keeping a machine pistol as a souvenir, possibly something he picked up on a trench raid; sold together with copied research.

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Estimate
£1,000 to £1,400

Starting price
£800