Auction Date:2010 Jun 16 @ 10:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Bid online at www.rrauction.com. Auction closes June 16.
TLS signed “Winston S. Churchill,” one page, 7.5 x 9.5, Admirality Whitehall letterhead, October 10, 1939. Letter to E. J. Robertson at the Daily Express. In full, “I have been looking into the complaints in your article this morning. The statement enclosed was the only one authorized by the Admiralty. The story about ‘decorating heroes of the Fleet Air Arm’ was a pure invention. When it was brought to the notice of the Admiralty, and as soon as they could make inquiry at the Palace, they denied it, and they continued to deny it until eventually their denial was made public.” Churchill penned the following before signing the letter: “I do not see where they were at fault.” An area of creasing and paperclip impression to top left corner, some light erased pencil notations to left side, and a uniform shade of mild toning. Accompanied by a photocopy of the 1939 article referenced by Churchill.
Churchill’s wrath stemmed from a Daily Express article concerning a September 25 German attack on the HMS Ark Royal, an aircraft carrier stationed in the North Sea. One German plane was shot down, resulting in the first “kill” by the British in World War II. The Germans used the occasion as propaganda, claiming that the Ark Royal had been heavily damaged. On the same day that the German press reported that a pilot was promoted and decorated for sinking the Ark Royal, the Daily Express ran with its own story about King George VI “decorating heroes of the Fleet Air Arm”—leading the enraged Churchill to call the story “pure invention.” The British public must have wondered why the Admiralty denied that their King decorated the men of the Ark Royal, with a still-fuming Churchill stating, “I do not see where [the Admiralty] were at fault.”
Auction Location:
5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
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