Kiwi Medals

This medal was instituted on 5 May 1946 and bestowed on some 3,100 persons who had rendered special services to Denmark during the German occupation. This particular example is marked to the surname Reynolds on the inside of the case. When I look this up in the Danish “Hof-og Statskalender” the only Reynolds awarded this medal is Squadron Leader Reggie Reynolds CO of 139 Squadron RAF flying Mosquitos.

Flying with his long time navigator Sismore on October 31 1944 Reynolds led a force of 24 Mosquitos in a raid on the Gestapo headquarters lodged in the buildings of Aarhus University in Denmark. The surprise attack, in misty weather, was delivered from low level and was a complete success. The head of the SS was killed, one of his officers writing: “A terrible disaster happened when our HQ was shot up by English airmen.” For their outstanding leadership, both Reynolds and Sismore received a Bar to their DFCs.

First up a photo of Sismore (left) and Reynolds (right) in front of a Mosquito aircraft.

This entry was posted on April 16, 2013 at 2:26 AM and is filed under 1939-1945 Service Medals, Rare Medals with tags Denmark, Mosquito, RAF, WW2. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.