The emotive Great War pair awarded to R.E.8 pilot Lieutenant A. C. Pepper, 59 Squadron,...

The emotive Great War pair awarded to R.E.8 pilot Lieutenant A. C. Pepper, 59 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, who was shot down by the German Ace Leutnant Kurt Wolff, during “Bloody April”, on 6 April 1917. Pepper was wounded and taken Prisoner of War, whilst his observer, Lieutenant W. L. Day, was killed - his pocket watch accompanying Pepper’s medals. Pepper was interrogated, and interned in the infamous Holzminden camp - from where he tried to escape in July 1918 British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. A. C. Pepper. R.A.F.) with damaged Pocket Watch by Sewill, Liverpool, reverse of shell engraved ‘Lt. W. L. Day RFC’, medals generally good very fine (lot) £400-£500 --- Arthur Chaytor/Clayton Pepper was born in Yardley, Warwickshire, in July 1896, and educated at Bromsgrove School. He was the son of Arthur J. Pepper, the owner of Arthur J. Pepper and Co. Ltd, manufacturing jewellers. Pepper was a Cadet in Birmingham University O.T.C. from November 1914, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 12th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. He volunteered for service with the Royal Flying Corps in 1916, and was posted to the Flying School in Aboukir, Egypt in October 1916. Pepper was posted as a pilot for operational flying with 59 Squadron (R.E. 8’s) in March 1917. Pepper joined the Squadron just in time to be engaged for “Bloody April”. On the morning of 6 April, 59 Squadron sent six R.E.8s on a photographic reconnaissance patrol in the vicinity of Vimy Ridge. One aircraft had a camera, the other five were used as protection. The flight left at 0935hrs with Pepper, and his observer Captain William Leonard “Leon” Day, acting as one of the escorts. Pepper’s R.E.8 was hit by anti-aircraft fire and then attacked by three Albatros scouts, part of a large German attack formation consisting of aircraft from Jasta’s 2, 3 and 11. Pepper and Day fell to the guns of the celebrated German Ace, Leutnant Kurt Wolff (33 ‘Victories’), near Bois Bernard, at 1015hrs. Of the six aircraft, three were lost, with five of the six aircrew killed, and Pepper wounded and captured. This was the worst day of Bloody April. Pepper wrote the following to Day’s family from Karlsruhe POW Camp, 5 May 1917: ‘Perhaps you would like to have the details of his end. We were detailed, with several other machines, for duty across the lines. Leon and myself were quite excited when we heard the news as it was his first time across. We went several miles over the lines when the machine was hit by an anit-aircraft shell which broke one of my controls and damaged the machine considerably. Immediately afterwards we were attacked by three enemy fast machines and poor Leon was hit fatally within a few seconds of the beginning of the fight. How I escaped miraculously with a wound in my arm and bad shaking after all my controls had been shot away and the machine had crashed from several thousand feet, does not matter here, but when I came round they told me that poor old Leon had passed away. I was grief-stricken when the little German doctor brought the news, and for days wished that it had been me, for in a way a pilot feels himself half responsible for his observer. I have a few personal belongings of his which the Dr gave me from his pockets, these I will send you as soon as I am liberated.’ Day’s last words were ‘Pepper, I’m hit’. In all likelihood his family allowed Pepper to keep the watch as a memento of their friendship. There are pictures of the crashed aircraft and the deceased body of Day known. There is also a famous picture of Wolff, in his study, with the shot down aircraft’s serial number (amongst several others) on the wall behind him. Pepper, once recovered, was interned at Karlsruhe and eventually at the infamous Holzminden Camp - arriving in the same month as the mass escape. The following additional detail of this time is added by Under The Guns of The Kaiser’s Ace’s: The Germans appeared to have treated Pepper shabbily from the moment he was captured. The wound in his arm - apart from a cursory dressing by a medical orderly - was neglected for five days as he lay in solitude and isolation in a prison cell. His suspicion that he was being ‘softened up’ for interrogation was confirmed when a smooth-talking German officer arrived to apologise profusely for the neglect, promising him better treatment if he would just answer a few questions. Pepper declined and was sent on his way to Karlsruhe. From Karlsruhe he was transferred to Treves where an energetic escape committee was beavering away on a large tunnel. Unfortunately, the tunnel was discovered virtually at the moment it was finished, leaving those concerned with the suspicion that the Germans had known about it for some time and had allowed the prisoners to expend their energy and ingenuity to no purpose - a massive blow to morale. In July 1918, Pepper was sent to the dreaded Holzminden camp with its equally despised commandant, Hauptmann Niemeyer. Pepper was high on the escape list for the famous Holzminden tunnel from which it was hoped 150 to 200 prisoners would escape. The first batch reached the tunnel mouth and set off on their pre-planned routes but then the breakout was beset with problems including a man getting stuck in the narrow passage. By the time it was all sorted out, daylight stopped any further departures. Niemeyer, who had considered his camp escape-proof, was furious and made life extremely unpleasant for the remaining prisoners....’ Pepper was repatriated in December 1918, and after the War not only took over the family business, but was also the Chairman of a number of other companies, including agricultural engineering firms. In later life Pepper resided at The Old Cottage, Sharpway Gate, Bromsgrove. He died in February 1971. Sold with memory stick, containing extensive copied research, and copied service papers, which include photographic images of recipient.