Correctly named GSM 536462 Sgt RF Snape RAF
Correctly named LSGC 536462 Sgt RF Snape RAF
WWII medals unnamed as issued
Frederick Rupert was born in Shanghai in 1915 to William and Eliza. William, a foreign going ships 1st mate settled in Shanghai and worked for their power company.
From research we see Frederick enlisted into the RAF in 1925 and was to become a reservist. From his medals we can only assume he saw no service outside the UK during WWI.
Malaya
In June 1948 a state of emergency was declared in Malaya, South East Asia, after the murder of three rubber planters by the Malayan Races’ Liberation Army (MRLA), a guerrilla army pursuing an independent Malaya. Under the leadership of Chin Peng, the MRLA had its origins in the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army which had existed in the latter stages of the Second World War and drew the majority of its support from landless, mostly Communist, Chinese ‘squatters’ living on the fringes of the jungle.
Through establishing camps in the jungle, the MRLA aimed to attack government and military installations, damage Malaya’s rubber industry and create areas of Communist control. The British introduced a raft of countermeasures to combat these activities, most notably the implementation of the Briggs Plan, which established a framework for rapid responses to terrorist incidents, increased security to protect vulnerable sites and the organisation of volunteer auxiliary forces. With the co-operation of the civil administration, a programme of land reform was introduced and number of fortified ‘new’ villages were constructed.
Frederick died in Surrey in 1998.
The medals are swing mounted as worn on original silk ribbons.
