WW2 Naval Long Service Group of (6) Royal Navy, awarded a B.E.M. for Marseilles
Long Service Medal named to: C/J 108991 P.O. EJ FRIPP. H.M.S. CHALLENGER
With research, Ernest John Fripp was born August 1908 at Poole, Dorset. He joined the Royal Navy in 1926 aged 18. He first served as a Boy 2nd Class on HMS Impregnable, moving on to HMS Marlborough as a Boy 1st Class, then HMS Cleopatra as an Ordinary Seaman etc. He was awarded his Long Service Medal in February 1942 whilst serving as a Petty Officer on HMS Challenger. From 1939 to 1942 she served in home waters and as a convoy escort. In June and July 1941 she and three Flower-class corvettes escorted the troop ship Anselm from Britain en route for Freetown, Sierra Leone. When the troop ship was torpedoed north of the Azores, Challenger and the corvette HMS Starwort rescued hundreds of survivors and then transferred them to the armed merchant cruiser HMS Cathay. Sometime later he joined HMS Byrsa, and during Operation Dragoon was sounding out Marseiles Harbour in a Dinghy, whilst mined, for which he was awarded the British Empire Medal "for courage, determination and skill in carrying out hydrographic surveys in the Mediterranean under arduous and dangerous conditions". The full recommendation for the award is included with the research. The B.E.M. medal is not with the group, location unknown. Copy of ship's photo and crest included for HMS Challenger etc.
