Free French Navy Croix de Guerre

We don't know that much about it, except that my father died in 1976. My Dad's silver cigarette box and Croix de Guerre with Silver Star that we have brought in today were presented to me when he died. His name was Richard (Dick) Hubbard - Lieutenant Richard Henry Morley Hubbard R.N.V.R.

He was presented the cigarette box by an Admiral of the Free French Navy. There are two correspondences in the box - one is a letter from the French Admiral and thanking him for his work, there's also a London Gazette snippet about him being given the Croix de Guerre.

He was born in 1915 in Dublin, moved over to England after the First World War. He must have joined the Navy before the start of the Second World War - how he got into the Free French Navy, I have no idea. The presentation of the silver cigarette box by the Free French Admiral was in 1941. He lost a leg prior to the presentation and then he was discharged from the navy. The name of the ship is on the cigarette box - "Reine des Flots".

He lost his leg whilst onboard the ship in Portsmouth harbour when it was bombed or torpedoed in June 1941. The Admiral who made the presentation was given the task by the Free French to keep the ship away from the Vichy so that they didn't mix. One didn't necessarily know what the other was doing. I didn't know that until I Googled that earlier today.

My father never talked about it. I think that generation never spoke about the war. We lived in Italy during the 1950s and 1960s - my brother and sister were born in Milan. But they never mentioned it. He retired in 1961.

He was discharged from the Free French Navy in 1941. I don't know what happened to him for the rest of the war - he spoke very good French, so he may have had an office job. He was good at languages (he went to Italy in 1947 and quickly picked up Italian). His uncle had a silk factory in Southern France near Valance, and he must have gone there on a few summer holidays. He went to Routledge School and got his command of the French language then. But how he got into the Free French Navy and how he earned the Croix de Guerre is a mystery.

We've had some ancestry work done on my father and mother's side, so there may be some additional information in there. We would like to know more information about his experiences in the war. Growing up, the cigarette box was always on the coffee table at home. It was used as a cigarette box. There aren't many photographs of him as he used to take them and he wasn't ever in them.

My mother talked more about the war because she was in the WRENs. They were both in Algiers in the Second World War, then they went their separate ways and re-met after the war. They married in September 1945.

There was a book written about my mother and 2 other women, not only from Algiers but they also went into Palestine / Jordan as well. I have a photo of my mother and father in uniform.
My mother's sister was more forthcoming to her kids about her time in the war, than my parents were to my brother and sister.
My father lost his leg but after the war he carried on as if he hadn't. He was a very positive individual. He came back to England once a year when he was living in Italy and he'd go to Roehampton and get a new tin leg fitted. I think he was often in pain, but you would never know.

He became a European Director at Singer Sewing Machines based in Milan - you didn't tangle with him. I remember when he was at a restaurant and things weren't quite right, you'd hear about it. Always charming to my wife - died shortly after we got married.
As far as my father was concerned, the war didn't affect him whatsoever, he just got on with life and whatever hardships he had, he put behind him. Stiff upper lip. There were 3 stars on the medals - the Italy, the Africa stars. He never wore his medals and I didn't see them until after he died.

My mother's name was Doreen Ethel Pargeter. Both her parents were in the First World War, they died together. Her father had been gassed in the First World War.