Operation Crusader Captain Gardner WW2 Benham Hand Signed FDC

STB008 This is stunning collectors official limited Operation Crusader first day cover hand signed by Captain Gardner where the signature rests perfectly accompanying the special hand commemorative franks.  This comes with full lifetime COA as the signing has been officially certified by the publishers with full hallmarking and authenticity of the series further detailed in absolute brand new mint condition. You wont source better and seems a very scarce Benhams autographed cover to source.

Gardner was 26 years old, and an acting captain in the 4th Royal Tank Regiment, attached to the 70th Infantry Division during the Second World War's Siege of Tobruk. During Operation Crusader, an attempt by the Eighth Army to lift the siege, the following deed took place for which Gardner was awarded the Victoria Cross. On 23 November 1941 at Tobruk, Libya, Captain Gardner was ordered to take two tanks to the rescue of two armoured cars of the King's Dragoon Guards, which were out of action and under heavy attack. While one of his tanks gave covering fire the captain dismounted from the other in the face of heavy fire, hitched a tow rope to one of the cars, then lifted into it an officer, both of whose legs had been blown off. The tow rope broke, so Captain Gardner returned to the armoured car, but was immediately wounded in the neck, arm and leg. Despite this he managed to transfer the wounded man to the second tank and returned to British lines through intense shell-fire.He was captured after the Battle of Gazala and became a prisoner of war (POW) for the rest of the war. This, unfortunately, resulted in an injury that left him with a deformed toe. He received the British Victoria Cross which is the highest award