Medal Ribbons including the Victoria Cross, Order of the British Empire (military), Order of the Bath, Distinguished Service Order, Venerable Order of St John, 1914-15 star, British War Medal 1914-18, Allied Victory Medal, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45, George V Jubilee 1935, George VI Coronation 1937, Elizabeth Coronation 1953, Legion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre (France), Croix de Guerre (Belgium), Order of the White Lion of Czechoslovakia. || Front

Philip Doyle was my maternal grandfather. He was born in 1891 in Ram Street Wexford. He sailed on schooners first and then he joined the Navy in WW 1 and served on “HMS Vivid” – the navy base at Devonport. He was also deployed to the front in the defence of Antwerp. He was later interviewed about his experiences during that time - “Interviewer: Philip Doyle, a marine recalls the unique experience from that time, when they tried a rear-guard action at Antwerp. Philip Doyle: The Germans was coming in, taking Antwerp, and they had a gun they called it Jack Johnson that time, ya know they only had the one big gun and you’d hear him roaring all over the sky coming in over your head. Well I suppose I knew a thing or two a kind of a bluff thing, bluffing the Germans because Mr. Churchill got up on a box in a big shed in Antwerp and he told us we’re going to meet the enemy but they were all old men. Well we found out our mistake they weren’t all old men. Old men. And we had nothing at all only Japanese rifles and Japanese bullets and we didn’t understand what we had and they were all loose in a big schoolbag, all our gear, we were only on a bluff and now we were in the trenches for about a fortnight and then they were through it out the trenches. The word come down through don’t retreat til dark if we’d retreated in the daylight, the Germans woulda seen us and they’da blew us all to pieces so we got out in the dark back into Antwerp and we docked again in Dover.” Philip survived the war and joined up again when WW2 broke out. Philip’s great grandchildren are still living in Wexford. When he retired in the 1950s he was in Bombay and he waited for weeks to get a ship home as he didn’t want to get on a plane. || || Photograph || Philip Doyle

Lieutenant General Sir Philip Neame's Battle Dress Blouse with Medal Ribbons || Philip Neame is one of the Royal Engineers who was awarded a Victoria Cross whilst Serving in World War One. We have been trying to post about individuals from our collection that may not be as well known or written about, however today we found a battledress blouse belonging to Neame and having done a bit of research about him in order to identify the medal ribbons we didn’t want to waste it. Philip Neame came from a Kent Landowning family, related to the founders of Sheperd Neame Brewery. He was an adventurous man and having circulated with Royal Engineers, being from Kent, he joined the Corp in 1908. Neame won his VC at Ypres in 1914 for defending a trench against German attack and covering their retreat with his own bombs when the troops were unable to use their bombs. At the time, Royal Engineers received more training in how to make and light bombs than other corps. He was involved in numerous battles during World War One, including Neuve-Chapelle. After World War One he spent 12 years in India, During World War Two he was a Prisoner-of-War in Italy and escaped in 1943, remaining in the army till 1947. While the Neame’s Medals are at the Imperial War Museum the medal ribbons that we identified on the Battle Dress Blouse today included: Victoria Cross, Order of the British Empire (military), Order of the Bath, Distinguished Service Order, Venerable of St John, 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal 1914-18, Allied Victory Medal, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45, George V Jubilee 1935, George VI Coronation 1937, Elizabeth II Coronation 1953, Legion d’Honneur, Croix de Guerre (France), Croix de Guerre (Belgium), Order of the White Lion of Czechoslovakia. He also won a Gold Medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics for shooting.