A 'Die Hard' Warrant Officer's 'Battle of Hong Kong' & FEPOW's medal group of 5 to a soldier who later died in captivity at the sinking of the Japanese Hell-Ship 'Lisbon Maru: Colour Sergeant John Thomas Little, 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment

- The 1939-1945 Star. No clasp
- The Pacific Star. No clasp
- Defence Medal
- War Medal
- Military LS&GC. GVI 'Regular Army' bar (6195113 C. Sjt. J. T. Little. Midd'x. R.)

Killed-in-Action: Colour Sergeant John Thomas Little, is confirmed having lost his life on 2 October 1942, when as a Prisoner-of-War, being transported from Hong Kong to Japan, aboard the Japanese freighter 'Lisbon Maru', the ship was a torpedoed and sunk, with appalling loss of life amongst the British and Canadian Prisoners-of-War

John Thomas Little, eldest son of John Henry Little (a Gas Stoker) and Ann Little, was a native of Ponders End, Enfield, Middlesex, England, where he was born on, 13 April 1903. The 1911 National Census for England & Wales, records John living with his parents and 7 x siblings (2 x brothers, and 5 x sisters), at the family residence, located at, 63 Alma Road, Ponders End. Middlesex. John had married sometime prior to the Second World War (Lilian Beatrice Donovan), and had a daughter Kathleen. Prior to the outbreak of the Pacific War, his wife was initially evacuated to Australia, and had returned to the United Kingdom by 1943, in which year she re-married

Colour Sergeant John Thomas Little, was a professional soldier who had been serving in Hong Kong Colony prior to the Second World War, where his unit, 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was one of the two battalions (the other was 2nd Battalion Royal Scots) from the regular British Army that comprised the infantry component of the Hong Kong Garrison. He was present in Hong Kong on the outbreak of the Pacific War, 8 December 1941, and served as one of his battalions senior NCO's throughout the epic 'Battle of Kong' . At the start of the Pacific War, 1/ Middlesex mustered 36 x Officers & 728 x Other Ranks

John Little, together with the rest of the British & Empire forces that had fought in the forlorn Defence of Hong Kong' was captured and taken Prisoner of War at the Fall of Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941. On 26 September 1942 he left his Hong Kong POW Camp, and was embarked on the commandeered N.Y.K. Line cargo ship 'Lisbon Maru' at Hong Kong. Tragically, the United States Navy submarine 'U.S.S. Grouper' torpedoed the Lisbon Maru on 1 October 1942 in the South China Sea, under the mistaken belief that it was an armed Japanese ship, or at the least was a Japanese merchantman carrying war supplies . The ship was carrying over 700 Japanese troops and more than 1,800 prisoners of war, however it had no markings on display as to what it was carrying. The next day on 2 October the ship began sinking and most of the prisoners were trapped inside

Colour Sergeant Little has no known grave, but his life, service and supreme sacrifice is commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, at the Sai Wan Memorial, Hong Kong

Note: 1/Middlesex did not, at battalion strength, qualify for any inter-war campaign medals, thus it is only rarely that groups to the regiment with an officially named medal are encountered

An extremely scarce and desirable 'Battle of Kong Kong' medal group to a 'Die Hard' Warrant Officer casualty of the sinking of the Hell-Ship 'Lisbon Maru'.

Condition: LSGC toned the group EF

Code: 22797