THE OUTSTANDING WW2 SAS GROUP AWARDED TO AN NCO JEEP DRIVER WHO SERVED IN NORTH AFRICA AND ITALY, 1942-46, BEFORE JOINING 21 SAS POST WAR WHEN IT WAS REFORMED AS A TERRITORIAL UNIT. INCLUDES HIS WW2 MEDALS, SAS CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE SIGNED BY LIEUTENANT COLONEL PADDY MAYNE (WHO FEATURES IN THE BBC'S ROGUE HEROES), A SUPERB AND RARE ORIGINAL SAS PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM, INCLUDING MANY WELL-KNOWN SAS FIGURES, SAS INSIGNIA, SERVICE BOOKS AND TWO VOLUMES OF WARTIME POETRY, ADORNED WITH HAND-DRAWN COLOUR IMAGES TO THE FRONT COVERS. IT APPEARS AS THOUGH HE SERVED IN ‘A’ SQUADRON IN 1943 AT LEAST AS THERE ARE RARE SKI TRAINING SHOTS TAKEN IN LEBANON JUST PRIOR TO THE INVASION OF SICILY

1939-45 STAR; AFRICA STAR, CLASP 8TH ARMY, ITALY STAR, FRANCE AND GERMANY STAR; DEFENCE AND WAR MEDALS 1939-45, EFFICIENCY MEDAL, G.VI.R., 1ST ISSUE, TERRITORIAL ‘908535 PTE. G. HUTCHINSON. PARA. REGT.’ MEDALS MOUNTED FOR WEAR WITH ORIGINAL RIBBONS. WITH CORRESPONDING SET OF MINIATURES.

Gerald Hutchinson was born in Northumberland in 1922, the son of Thomas and Isabella Hutchinson. Enlisting at Barrack Road, Newcastle on 3 May 1939. Serving with 72 Field Battery, Royal Artillery before joining the Special Air Service in North Africa in 1942. Hutchinson’s SAS Certificate of Service signed by Lt Col Robert Blair Mayne records him as serving ‘in the 1st Special Air Service Regiment from 5 July 1942 to 16 Nov 1945’. Hutchinson’s Soldier’s Service & Pay Book lists him as ‘Qualifying as a Parachutist’ on March 9 1943 and as 'Privileged to wear Operational Wings of SAS on breast, permission granted by C.O. on August 7 1943', having served in North Africa and Italy. His army trade was a driver and it seems it was his trade in the SAS; to back this up, there are lots of photos of him next to and the driving seat of SAS jeeps in the album. In addition to his Royal Artillery service, his Royal Artillery Tracer card notes service with the Special Raiding Squadron, 1 SAS, transfer to the Army Air Corps on 1 April 1944; was still in the SAS but appears the SAS came under the AAC in April 1944 (similar reason why Efficiency Medal named ‘Para’ ), reposting from AAC, posted back to AA brigade in January 1946 and then re enlisting into the SAS.

After the war, Hutchinson re-enlisted into 21 SAS (Territorials), undergoing a second part of his parachute training and joining the Army Ski Association on November 9, 1950. Hutchinson subsequently emigrated to Canada to work as a miner, and in 1987 worked with author Roy Bradford with his profiling of Paddy Mayne for his book, Rogue Warrior of the SAS: The Blair Mayne Legend. He died, aged 67, in 1989………………….

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A really quite outstanding group to an early member of the SAS, who later went on to serve when the unit was reformed as a Territorial unit.