Lt. Colonel J.A.Balfour OBE, RE

[Mervyn Mitton]

The Award of an Officer of the British Empire - Military Division - is not an uncommon event. However, when

the Award is made to an Officer during World War 2 , then it takes on a greater significance.

Lt. Col. J.A. Balfour was in Italy from the time of the surrender in 1944. Being an Engineer he was obviously

able to contribute to the necessary re-buiding and in fact he seems to have been an expert on Port re-construction.

I was fortunate to acquire not only his medal group and miniatures - but, also his War Diary. This is Volume 2

and starts from when Italy collapsed and the Allies took over. This is not a daily listing of events, but rather a place

to secure secret information and hold minutes of official meetings. Additionally, I was able to copy his Award certs.

for both his MBE and the OBE. I will show these and also some selected pages from the diary - I think you will

find it interesting.

The first port he mentions is Piombino - I think in the NE of Italy. From there he went to supervise re-building

in the Porta Vecchia - the Port of Rome. His final assignment was the re-buiding of the Port of Genoa. This was

very important as the War against Germany continued into 1945 and it was needed to unload supplies. When you look at the names of the various officers who attended the different meetings, he is usually the only one shown with an award.

I think this clearly shows how highly regarded his work was . Additional to the main awards , he was also given an MID.

Firstly - the Medal Group

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[Mervyn Mitton]

Very strange on such an important group - it has the Special Constabulary long service medal. He

must have joined after discharge.

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_11_2012/post-6209-0-20969000-1352128342.jpgclick

[Mervyn Mitton]

Front cover of Vol. 2 of his confidential diary.

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[Mervyn Mitton]

His Certificate of Award for the MBE

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[Mervyn Mitton]

OBE Certificate

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[Mervyn Mitton]

Both Certificates have the Great Seal at the top - they didn't show on the photo copies -

this is a close-up

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

Mussolini Hanging

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[Mervyn Mitton]

Mussolini's body is at 7 o'clock - with a bullet wound in the head. The standing man is holding a pistol.

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Mervyn Mitton]

Quite a 'ticking' off.................

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[Mervyn Mitton]

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[Owen]

Wow! To have the medals and the diary is very special. It seems that we mostly we have to rely on the bare bones of long and involved research (with only lucky/rare glimpses into contemporary personal thoughts/feelings/context)...meaning that we usually have to guess about the 'emotive' stuff. I have enjoyed reading through this thread - you get a real sense of the man and the time. Owen

[David B 1812]

Mervyn, on the 5th November 2012, in connection with this group, you wrote:

"Very strange on such an important group - it has the Special Constabulary long service medal. He
must have joined after discharge."

Now, I have to presume, that by the statement: "after discharge" you meant that he joined the

Special Constabulary, AFTER DISCHARGE from the military. And we know, by his medals, that

his military career was limited to the Second World War. Therefore IF he joined after discharge,

it would have been after 1945 / 1946.

I would say that your supposition here is incorrect, for this reason: If he had joined the Special

Constabulary after the Second World War, and he had remained a member for long enough to

qualify for a medal, the surely he would have received the medal in the GVIR version, which

would be correct for the time?

If you look at the Special COnstabulary Long Service Medal in the photograph, you can clearly

see that it is a GVR version - meaning the award thereof would have / should have ended before

the Second World War - probably around 1936 / 1937 or so. Well that is my view, anyway.