Australia Service Medal : L H Cecil, Australian War Correspondent

Australia Service Medal 1939-1945. Impressed around edge with recipient's details.

Associated with the service of Lawrence Henry Cecil. He served in British Army in the 60th Rifles of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps during the First World War where he was awarded the Military Cross for action at Fremicourt on 24 March 1918. Cecil emigrated to Australia after the war. During the Second World War, in September 1940, Cecil left Australia for the Middle East as a war correspondent in charge of an Australian Broadcasting Commission mobile broadcasting field unit. The unit made voice reports about the fighting and also recorded interviews with Australian soldiers and the sounds of battle. The news reports by Cecil and fellow correspondent Chester Wilmot were the first voice reports by ABC correspondents overseas. In addition to recording reports in the field, the ABC field unit also operated a radio station for receiving news broadcasts from Australia and relaying them to Australian troops. The unit covered the war in Egypt, Palestine, Lybia, Greece and Syria until March 1942.