WW2 1939-45 Star and War Medal with Hallmarked Silver Royal Tournament Medal – Troop Sergeant Major Arthur Gerrard, 4th/7th Dragoon Guards – K.I.A. During the Retreat to Dunkirk 21/5/1940
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A second world war medal pair with silver Royal Tournament Medal to Troop Sergeant Major Arthur Gerrard, 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards (Royal Armoured Corps, who was killed in action near Béthune during the retreat to Dunkirk, 21 May 1940.
1939-45 Star unnamed as issued
War Medal 1939-45 unnamed as issued
Hallmarked Silver Royal Tournament Medal reverse engraved ‘1935 JUMPING COMPETITION OTHER RANKS 4/7TH DRAGOON GUARDS SERGT. A. GERRARD’ (officially named)
Killed In Action – 21st May 1940 (Essars Communal Cemetery)
Arthur Gerrard was born in July 1906 at Nantwich, Cheshire, and enlisted in the 4th/7th Royal
Dragoon Guards on 3 November 1924 at Stoke-On-Trent, while the regiment was stationed in
India. The regiment returned to the United Kingdom in 1929. Gerrard was an excellent
horseman and a photo in the regimental journal shows Sergeant Gerrard as a member of the team
of four that won the Other Rank Jumping event at the Royal Tournament in 1935.
The regiment was mechanized in 1938 and landed in France in 1939, equipped with the Vickers
Mk.VI light tank. The 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards was assigned as the reconnaissance regiment
of the 2nd Infantry Division under I Corps.
According to “The First and The Last, The Story of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards 1935-
1945”, Troop Sergeant Major Garrard was one of four soldiers killed (with two more taken
prisoner) near Béthune on or about 21 May 1940 while “returning from leave who were caught by
the German breakthrough and pushed into the line between Arras and Calais.” These four
soldiers were buried at the Essars Communal Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais.
Official sources list his date of death as 26 May, this being the date the BEF was completely
surrounded. However, “The First and The Last” was published in 1946, written with input from
those who served with the regiment during the retreat. It seems likely that this source would be
more reliable when it comes to the circumstances surrounding Gerrard’s death.
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