Badge and Ribbon of a Companion of The Distinguished Service Order & DSO

Badge and ribbon. For full description of badge see OMD 4083.

First World War (King George V) issue Badge of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) to Colonel P C Joyce, commander of the British section of the Arab Northern Army during the Arab Revolt (1917-1918). Joyce frequently led attacks on the Hejaz railway in addition to his vital work as military advisor to Emir Feisal. Lieutenant-Colonel Pierce Charles Joyce (1878-1965): educated at Beaumont College, Old Windsor, he joined the 1st Battalion, the Connaught Rangers in 1900 and served with this unit in South Africa during the (Second) Boer War. Between 1907 and 1917 he was attached to the Egyptian Army and in this capacity served in Sudan in 1910. During the First World War he served in Gallipoli; later (1917) he joined the Hejaz Mission (part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force) first as Base Commandant and then as a Special Service Officer Hejaz Operations during which he worked in co-operation with T E Lawrence. After the war he became Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, Egyptian Expeditionary Force (1920); the following year he was employed under the Egyptian Government and between 1921 and 1927 was Military Advisor to the Iraqi Army. He retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel (South Staffordshire Regiment) in 1932. His papers are held by the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives (King's College, London). His DSO is shown at the extreme left of the image of the court-mounted medal group.