Bidspirit auction | A fine WW1 DCM, Mentioned

A fine WW1 DCM, Mentioned in Despatches and long service group of five to a member of the Cavalry Corps Signal Squadron of the Royal Engineers Signal Service, and later Royal Corps of Signals. Consisting of: Distinguished Conduct Medal (GVR 1st type) named to: 23290 2 Cpl - ASjt R Keevil CC Sig Sqn RE. 1914 Star and Clasp named to: 23290 Spr R Keevil RE. British War Medal and Victory Medal with MiD Emblem named to: 23290 T Sjt R Keevil RE (Temporary Serjeant). Long Service & Good Conduct Medal (Military) (GVR 1st type) named to: 2306363 Sjt R Keevil R Signals. Richard Harold Keevil was born in Horsham, Surrey on 7 July 1888. He enlisted in the Royal Engineers in c 1908 and, following the outbreak of WW1, he disembarked in France with the BEF on 16 August 1914. He served with the Royal Engineers Signal Service, reaching the rank of Acting Sergeant, and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty whilst with the Cavalry Corps Signal Squadron (London Gazette: 28/03/1918). He was later awarded a Mention in Despatches for France (London Gazette 04/07/1919 page 553 – Sgt DCM, Cavalry Corps Special Cable Section). Transferring to the newly formed Royal Corps of Signals in 1920, he was awarded the LS&GC Medal in 1926 and was discharged from the Army on completion of his engagement in c1930. It appears from census records and electoral rolls that he was employed by the Royal Military College (later Academy) Sandhurst as a groom following his discharge until c1953, his address being stated as ‘No 1 Riding Troop Quarters, RMC’. He died at Woking in 1962, aged 73 years. He had married Amelia Margaret Reen (1888-1962) at Horsham in 1915,and they had three children together. His son Richard Alfred Keevil (born 23/09/1921) achieved some fame, serving in WW2 in the Royal Fusiliers (London Regiment) in North Africa and Italy, including in the battle for Cassino and, later, as an Acting Warrant Officer Class 2 attached to the Nigeria Regiment as a platoon commander in the renowned Chindit Force in Burma, where he was Mentioned in Despatches for distinguished service (London Gazette 26/04/1945). After the war he was recruited by the Colonial Service and served with distinction as a Development Officer in Nigeria and later in the British Soloman Islands before finally returning to live in Freemantle, Australia in the 1980s. He died in 2011 aged 90 years.. The 1914 Star medal roll indicates that Spr Keevil was not in fact entitled to the clasp to the 1914 Star. But it is an irony of this award that many of those entitled never claimed it, whereas some, who were not entitled, considered that they were and awarded it to themselves. The clasp on Keevil’s Star is a contemporary tailor’s copy and so presumably falls into the latter category. Be that as it may, it is clear that he wore this clasp in uniform, with pride, and so it seems right that it should be allowed to remain where it is. With copies of MICs, medal rolls and citation for the DCM. Also some interesting notes on the career of his son and copy LG entry for his Burma MiD. The medals mounted together for display. Some light contact marking to the DCM from the Star, but Generally Good Very Fine (GVF) condition.