Decorations & Gallantry Medals >
British Empire Medal Group of (9) to Kenya Prisons, late Army Physical Training Corps att'd. Parachute Regiment and HQ 6th Airborne Division
British Empire Medal Group of (9) to Kenya Prisons, late Army Physical Training Corps att'd. Parachute Regiment and HQ 6th Airborne Division
A Post-war B.E.M. Medal Group of (9) to Chief Officer R. Belson, Kenya Prisons Department, late Warrant Officer Class II, Army Physical Training Corps attached Parachute Regiment, 6th Airborne Division ex-Devonshire Regiment
British Empire Medal, (Civil) E.II.R. (Ronald Belson) with Royal Mint case of issue; 1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Palestine 1945-48, with M.I.D. oak leaf (5616970 W.O. Cl. 2. R. Belson. A.P.T.C.); Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, Kenya (R Belson Kenya Prison Service) mounted for wear; together with a Devonshire Regiment Proficiency Medal, white metal, the reverse engraved ‘Pte Belson, R.’, nearly extremely fine.
B.E.M. London Gazette 1 January 1957: Ronald Belson, Chief Officer, Prisons Department, Kenya.
M.I.D. London Gazette 7 January 1949:
‘In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Palestine during the period 27 March to 26 September 1947.’
Ronald Belson served as a Warrant Officer Class II (Quartermaster Sergeant Instructor) with the Army Physical Training Corps in post-War Palestine, initially attached to 14 Parachute Battalion from 2nd April to 5 October 1946, and latterly with Headquarters, 6th Airborne Division, from 10 July 1947 to 10 March 1948. He subsequently became a Prison Officer in Kenya, and is mentioned in ‘The Swords of Kirinyaga: The Fight for Land and Freedom’, by H. K. Wachanga:
‘One of the prison officers at Saiyusi was a man named Belson. We nicknamed him Karima Njaga (one who digs wearing trousers only) from his habit of working in his garden with his shirt off. Mr. Belson was a good man who did not beat us and insured that we had enough food to eat. We ate many vegetables – tomatoes, sugar-cane, and onions. Sometimes, Mr. Belson even shot hippos for us to eat. Sometimes he took four or five detainees in a motorbike during the night to steal fish from the nets of the Luo fisherman. Occasionally they would return with as many as 1,000 or 2,000 fish, Tilapioa. and Kamongo.’
For his services with the Kenya Prison Service Belson was awarded a richly-deserved British Empire Medal. He was subsequently posted to North Nigeria.
