WW1 1914 “ Cameroons “ D.S.O. Group. Originally Recomended For V.C.

An exceptional Great War 1914 "Cameroons" Distinguished Service Order Group Of Four. Captain E.E Loch, Highland Light Infantry, attached to 2nd Battalion, Nigerian Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force. Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R, Silver-Gilt and Enamel. 1914/15 Star(Lieut. E.E Loch, High. L.I.).British War Medal, Victory Medal With Mentioned in Dispatches emblem. Captain  E. E. Loch, Highland Light Infantry.

Medals are in very good condition no damage or knocks to D.S.O. Enamels, mounted swing style as worn, on horizontal pin and catch assembly to rear.

Eric Erskine Lock was appointed a 2nd Lieutenant in the Highland Light Infantry direct from Sandhurst in  October 1910 and was serving as a recently promoted Lieutenant on attachment to the 2nd Bn Nigerian Regiment at Lokoja on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914.

D.S .0. London Gazette 12 December 1919:'For distinguished service in connection with military operations in East Africa, Somaliland and Nigeria' .

The original Recommendation - as per War Office Letter No. 012/3985 of 7 August 1919 states:

'For most conspicuous gallantry in action during the night operations against Garua on the night of 29-30 August 1914. On the morning of the 30 August, during the withdrawal, Lieutenant and Adjutant Browne was wounded and unable to move. Lieutenant (now Captain) Loch, though himself wounded, went immediately to his assistance and carried him out of action on his back under extremely heavy fire.'

V.C. Recommendation

Quickly seeing action in the Cameroons campaign, he was decorated for his part in the attack on Garua on the night of 29-30 August 1914, when 'C' and 'H' Companies of his Battalion acted in direct support of 'H' Company of the 3rd Battalion, Nigeria Regiment. Pitched against three enemy forts near "Observation Hill", which lit up the assaulting parties with rockets and opened up a heavy fire, progress was slow and costly, early fatalities including overall C.O., Lieutenant-colonel P. R. MacLear. Eventually confined to a small area of some 50 yards diameter, without any covering fire to protect them, Loch and his comrades were suddenly subjected to a fierce enemy counter-attack, and the British force broke and fled, in spite of every effort being made by the officers and N.C.Os to the contrary. Here, then, the moment when casualties quickly mounted, and no doubt, too, the moment of Loch's great courage in rescuing Lieutenant H. W. Browne under a very heavy fire. Total British casualties amounted to 63, including four officers killed, one mortally wounded and captured, and two wounded, Loch, of course, being one of the latter. Lieutenant Browne died of his wounds.

He was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 24 October 1914 refers), but, as per the W.A .F .F. Register of Correspondence for 1919, he was later recommended for the V .C. on 31 March 1919 (CO 641/8 refers), many acts of bravery from this theatre of war not having been considered for proper recognition until the War's end. Ultimately, however, as cited above, he was awarded the D.S.O.

Back in the Cameroons, Loch returned to active duty in a month after the fight at Garua, the History of the Royal West African Frontier Force offering a further glimpse of him under fire with the Ibi Column:

'On the 16th [November 19141, a patrol of 30 Nigerian rifles under Lieutenant E. E. Loch moved out to eject an enemy party from Gazabu, some 12 miles to the south-east. But the British were repulsed and forced to retreat, having incurred seven casualties, including Mr. H. Q. Glenny, a Political Officer mortally wounded.

Loch was subsequently invalided home, where he was appointed Adjutant to the Highland Brigade at Norwich, and was again Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 5 July 1919 refers).

Explorer

After the War Loch left the Army to pursue an adventurous life as an explorer, one newspaper reporting on his expedition to discover hidden treasures of the Incas in the mid-1930s:

'To one of the greatest scientific explorations of modern times is to be allied still one more attempt to discover the hidden treasure of the Incas. A retired British Army officer, Captain Eric Erskine Loch, D.S .0., is to lead an American expedition into the basin of the Upper Amazon, from which no white man has been known to return.

The expedition, which will be known as the Andes-Amazon Expedition 1935-36, will sail from New York on the Santa Barbara. The party will disembark at Guayaquil, Eucador, and proceed by mountain railway to Riobamba, and then by motor lorries to Racienda Leita, Patate, in the Upper Andes. This will be their last sight of civilisation.

The itinerary demands that the expedition shall make for the shores of the lake near the perpetual snow line in the Llanganates Mountains, where, according to legend, the 'lost treasure of the Incas was hidden 400 years ago in the time of the Spanish conquest."Though our expedition is purely scientific in its object," said Captain Loch, "we shall not, of course, pass by the lake, which tradition has made, one of the world's treasure stores, without attempting to prove or disprove the legend. 

Loch subsequently published an account of the expedition - Fever, Famine and Gold: the Dramatic Story of the Adventure and Discoveries of the Andes-Amazon Expedition. He died of a tropical disease in January 1944 and is buried at Huigra, Ecuador.

In 1936 Loch made a film "Man  Hunters of the Caribbean" with Andre Roosevelt "cousin"  to President Theodore Roosevelt.  Tag line on cover "Death Defying Adventures in an Unexplored Jungle. See E.E.Loch in his starring role over an hour of watching a true hero in two adventure films, absolutely excellent, and rare to have a film on a D.S.O.winner.

(Copy of DVD and two books relating to his adventures included with Medals). Boys own stuff and deeds that thrilled the Empire, to sum up E.E.Loch's life.

Loch Family

Captain E.E. Loch came from a long line of Officers his Grandfather was Colonel of the 1st Lancers. And grew up in Westminster, London before joining the colours. His Brother Frederick Sydney Loch served in the Great War, a Gallipoli Vetran ( Bombardier, 2 Field Artillery Brigade, A.I.F) Using the pseudonym " Sydney De Loghe" and wrote books one of which was daming report on Gallipoli ( The Straits Impregnable  in 1916) where he was badly wounded, which had a big impact in Australia were he later lived. He married the writer Joyce Nankivell ( who became the most decorated woman in Australia,)  the Loch's  volunteered to serve with relief units in Poland and settled in Greece in 1923. During WW2 the Loch's left Greece to assist with relief efforts for polish refugees in Bulgaria and Romania. Joyce who was born in Queensland, Australia received a Gold Medal from Poland and Romania, and was awarded numerous other awards including The order of the British Empire- Commanders of the Order of the British Empire. And there are various monuments in Australia to her honour. Frederick pre deceased Joyce who lived into her 90's, both are buried in Greece.

There is a huge amount of research with this impressive Group of medals. To an extremely brave man and his exceptional family who did great things to help others. 

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