For sale, mementos of floating harbour hero who helped win D-Day
WARTIME mementos belonging to one of the designers of the Mulberry Harbour that helped win the battle for Normandy in 1944 are being sold for £15,000.
Vassal Charles Steer-Webster OBE was a key engineer on the pre-fab harbours used to land troops, vehicles and supplies during the Second World War.
The colonel, was in almost daily contact with Prime Minister Winston Churchill ahead of D-Day.
He oversaw the design of Mulberry Harbour B, installed at Arromanches to supply British and Canadian troops.
Its six miles of steel roadways floating on concrete pontoons were used to land more than 2.5 million troops, 500,000 vehicles and four million tons of supplies in the 10 months after D-Day.
Now Col Steer-Webster’s personal effects, including a signed letter of thanks from Churchill, are being sold by his nephew with Mitchells Auctions, of Cockermouth, Cumbria.
The archive includes
150 photos of Mulberry B, as well as his medals and
OBE
Churchill’s letter, sent with a signed photo on VE Day in
1945, reads: “Herewith, an autographed photograph of myself as a gesture of thanks to you for helping me to achieve it by your dedication to Mulberry.”
The collection also features mementos of the colonel’s life as an infantryman in the trenches during the First World War.
They include his dog tags, silver cigarette case, 1914 Christmas tin – and a bullet that pierced his left buttock.
He was as a private in the 13th Battalion, London Regiment, but was invalided out after being wounded in action in April 1916.
Col Steer-Webster, who was granted the Freedom of the City of London for his achievements, died aged 73 in 1970.
Mark Wise, of Mitchells Auctioneers, said: “The archive is owned by Colonel SteerWebster’s nephew, who is elderly and does not have anyone to whom he wishes to leave the archive. The time has now come for it to be sold.”
The sale is on March 8.
HEALTH Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday hinted that the four-hour A&E waiting time target could be scrapped after the NHS in England recorded its worst performance.
He said performance must be “judged by the right targets” after data showed only 79.8 per cent of emergency patients were seen on time in December.
Ninety-five per cent of patients should be seen and treated, discharged or admitted to hospital within that timescale.
NHS England has been piloting new targets so patients with the most serious conditions receive treatment within an hour while others wait longer.
Happy
Mr Hancock suggested the trials could become permanent across the country when he was questioned about the NHS performance under the Tories.
Ho told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We will be judged by the right targets. Targets have to be clinically appropriate.”
Dr Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “We agree with trying to improve on the standard and have been happy to explore alternatives.
“However, so far we’ve seen nothing to indicate that a viable replacement for the four-hour target exists and believe that testing should soon draw to a close. Rather than focus on ways around the target, we need to get back to the business of delivering on it.”
At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Boris Johnson conceded that NHS waiting times were “unacceptable”. He said: “We will get those waiting lists down.”