A scarce 'Kenya Regiment' & Colonial Gunner's Second World War 'Indian Ocean' killed-in-action by Imperial Japanese Navy submarine attack 'Africa Star' trio: Sergeant George Marvex White, Kenya Regiment att'd to 301st Field Regiment East African A

- The 1939-1945 Star. No clasp
- The Africa Star. No clasp
- War Medal

All medals complete with their bright silk ribands, as issued

Sold together with below original ephemera:

- Named War Office transmittal letters
- 3 x waxed medal envelopes as-issued from the Royal Mint

Killed-in-Action: Sergeant White is confirmed having been killed-in-action on 12 February 1944, when the troopship S.S.  'Khedive Ismail' was attacked and sunk by an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine, with appalling loss of life - the death toll was 1,297 people (out of 1,511 on board) - including Sergeant White, who was barely 20 years of age - and the mostly East African servicemen, and Nurses who had embarked from Mombasa for overseas service via Ceylon Colony, with 11th East African Division to final destination India and onwards to the Burma theatre of war - their ship never reaching it's destination

The supreme self-sacrifice of Sergeant White is commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, where the fallen's name and service details are inscribed upon Colum 53 of the East Africa Memorial located in the Nairobi War Cemetery, Nairobi, Kenya

Loss of the S.S. Khedive Ismail: The Clyde-Built 'Khedive Ismail' (formerly known as On 5 February 1944 Khedive Ismail left Mombasa bound for Colombo carrying 1,348 passengers including 996 x members of the East African Artillery's 301st Field Regiment, 271 x Royal Navy personnel, 19 x WRNS, 53 x nursing sisters and their matron, 9 x members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and a war correspondent, Kenneth Gandar-Dower. She was part of Convoy KR 8 and it was her fifth convoy on that route. The convoy was escorted by the heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins and destroyers HMS Paladin and HMS Petard. Khedive Ismail was carrying the Convoy Commodore. Of 1,511 people aboard Khedive Ismail, only 208 men and 6 women survived the sinking and subsequent battle. 1,220 men and 77 women were killed. The sinking of the single ship S.S. Khedive Ismail, was the third largest loss of life to Allied shipping during the second world war, and the largest loss of servicewomen in the history of the Commonwealth of Nations

George Marvex White, son of George White (a Colonial Civil Servant, who in 1924 resided at Lumbwa the historical name for Kipkelion, a railway town located in Kericho County in the Rift Valley region of western Kenya)  and Lilian Maud White (nee Wheller) was a native of Kenya Colony, where he was born on, 4 February 1924, and where his birth was registered on 22 February 1924 (Reference file series RG 36/9 Part I in file series holding 'British Armed Forces And Overseas Births And Baptisms' held and accessible at The National Archives). Conscription was mandatory in Kenya Colony for Caucasian  settlers of fighting age, from the age of 18 years, and posting the local all-White Kenya Regiment (Territorial Force), which unit came under the control of the British War Office - and not the Colonial Office. After enlistment circa February-March 1942, George would only have entered a theatre of war, from the age of 19, and would only have served outside of Kenya to qualify for the Africa Star on attachment with a local African or imperial corps. As George was serving on attachment with 301st Field Regiment East African Artillery in 1944 (which unit had not prior qualified for The Africa Star), it is most likely that he had been serving attached in North Africa with another Artillery unit prior to being posted to the 301st

Medal virtually pristine. Ephemera good

Condition: EF

Code: 26361