Medals of brave seaman shot in backside at Gallipoli to go on auction
The medals of a heroic seaman who saved comrades despite being shot in the backside during the Gallipoli campaign are being sold at auction.
Leading Seaman William Pierce was hit in an assault on enemy lines but stayed to cover the retreat of colleagues.
The then 22-year-old also carried an injured friend back over no-man’s-land while exposed to machine-gun fire.
He was seen loading and reloading his rifle, firing bullets in rapid rounds.
Of the 450 men in the Howe Battalion of the Royal Naval Division who set out on the assault on Turkish and German lines only 55 returned.
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The Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, 1914 Star, British War and Victory Medals and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve medal (Noonans/BNPS)Some 140,000 Allied troops were killed or wounded in the 1915 Dardanelles Campaign during the First World War.
William, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, returned to the front line after going to hospital in Egypt and received the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.
He was also awarded the British Royal Navy Reserve medal, the 1914 Star and British War and Victory medals. The £20,000 lot will be sold at Noonans in Mayfair, Central London.
Auctioneer Christopher Melor-Hill said: “The Navy is often forgotten about in the story of Gallipoli where they were instrumental in the dangerous landing.
William was wounded in an assault on enemy lines (Noonans/BNPS)The Royal Navy also provided a naval brigade of seamen who fought alongside the soldiers on the Gallipoli peninsula.
“This CGM is a very rare Naval gallantry award for that campaign, at the time it was the second highest award for gallantry to the Victoria Cross.”
The medals were displayed in the Royal Marines Barracks in Kent before going to a private collector.
William was a butcher’s assistant before joining the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. In 1914, he went ashore at Antwerp, Belgium, to fight the Germans.
A British officer leads a Turkish Prisoner of War blinded in battle away from the trenches of Gallipoli (mirrorpix)In 1915, his batallion was inspected by Winston Churchill, the then First Lord of the Admiralty, and King George V before they sailed for Dardanelles.
William took part in the third attempt to capture territory at Krithia on June 4.
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After the evacuation in 1916 he helped to protect merchant ship HMS Excellent before being demobilised in 1919.
The dad-of-six became a plasterer and an air raid warden during the Second World War. He died from appendicitis
in 1953, aged 59.
The sale will be held on January 18.
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