Bidspirit auction | Rare Victoria Cross winner Colonel

Rare Victoria Cross winner Colonel Donald John Dean VC signed piece and biography. Born: 19 Apr 1897 Herne Hill, London. Family: s of John Hambrook Dean, of family of Kentish brickmakers and Grace (née Walduck). Educated: Quernmore Sch, Bromley, Kent. Married: 1923 Kent to Marjorie Emily (née Wood); one s, one dau. Career: mem 1st Sittingbourne Scout Tp; Aug 1914 joined Kent Special Constabulary; 19 Apr 1915 enl Pte 28th London Regt (Artists' Rifles); to 1st Bn Artists' Rifles; 11 Aug 1915 arr France; svd St Omer, Ploegsteert, Belgium and Battle of the Somme, France; 4 Oct 1916 comm 11th Bn R W Kent Regt; 17 Mar 1917 wounded; fought nr Vimy Ridge and Givenchy; 20-23 Sept 1917 svd Passchendaele, Belgium in Tower Hamlets area; 10 Oct and 20 Oct 1917 twice wounded; Mar 1918 present during German Offensive; Apr 1918 his bn disbanded; 4 Apr 1918 T/Lt; joined 8th Bn R W Kent Regt; 24-26 Sept 1918 VC Action at Canary Trench, NW of Lens, France; 11 Oct 1918 wounded; 1918 MiD; presented with silver casket by Sittingbourne and Milton Rural Dist Council, Kent; 29 Jan 1919 Freemason, St Michael's Lodge No 1273, Sittingbourne; 27 Aug 1920 Lt 4th Bn E Kent Regt TA; 1 Jan 1922 Capt and T/CO 8th Bn R W Kent Regt TA; 1 Jan 1927 B/Maj; 1 Apr 1930 Maj; 20 Mar 1936 Lt Col CO 4th Bn The Buffs (R E Kent Regt) TA; 9 Nov 1939 Lt Col; to France as CO No 5 Group Aux Pioneer Corps; May 1940 formed his men into fighting unit and svd in def of Boulogne; during the fighting wrongly reported killed; his unit helped cover emb of the Gds at Dunkirk; later svd Madagascar organizing return of defeated Vichy forces to France; 1943 present Sicily landings and in Italy (2 MiD); 11 Apr 1945 Col; 1 Aug 1946 Hon Col 4th Bn The Buffs; 13 Feb 1951 transf to TA Res of Offrs; 1951 JP; 19 Apr 1955 retd from TA Res of Offrs; for 50 yrs Chmn, Sittingbourne RBL; 1955-79 Vice-Chmn, Friends of St George's Memorial Church, Ypres, Belgium; mem of family firm of Smeed Dean, brick manufacturers and builders; 1957 DL for Kent; 1961-69 Hon Col newly amalgamated Queen's Own Buffs later Queen's Regt; 1961 OBE as mem, Kent Territorial and Aux Forces Assn; 1972 retd from brick industry. Final rank: Col. Died: 9 Dec 1985 Woodcourt, 1 Park Ave, Sittingbourne, Kent. Cremated: 16 Dec 1985 Charing Crem, Kent; ashes interred in family plot, St John the Baptist Churchyard, Tunstall, Kent. Commemoration: name on family headstone, St John the Baptist Churchyard, Tunstall; memorial in Central Ave, Sittingbourne (May 1995); Dean Rd, Sittingbourne. Other awards: OBE (Mil Div) (1961); 1914-15 Star; British War Medal 1914-20; Victory Medal 1914-19 with MiD; 1939-45 Star; Italy Star; Defence Medal 1939-45; War Medal 1939-45 with MiD; Coronation Medal 1937; Coronation Medal 1953; Jubilee Medal 1977; Efficiency Decoration; Commander, Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark). VC Investiture: 15 Feb 1919 by King George V, Buckingham Palace. Good condition Est.