b. 06/10/1893 St Petersburg, Russia. d. 04/01/1971 Bromley, Kent.
DATE OF AM ACTION: 19/07/1918 Newmarket, Cambridgeshire.
Stanley was born to British parents in St Petersburg, Russia, but by the age of 8 he was living in Essex with his maternal grandparents. By 1911, he was working as a mechanical apprentice in a bakery in Willesden, London. He attested for the Royal Fusiliers and served with the 13th Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 30 July 1915. Advanced Acting Sergeant, he was awarded the Military Medal, before being commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers on 1 May 1918, and was posted to the 51st (Graduated) Battalion, which since March 1918 had been part of 204th Brigade, 68th Division based at Newmarket. For his gallantry whilst serving as bombing officer during a training session at Newmarket he was awarded the Albert Medal. He was presented with his Albert Medal by H.M. the King at Buckingham Palace on 21 December 1918, and relinquished his commission on the cessation of hostilities. Reekie was not married at the time of his death in Bromley on 4th January 1971.
AM CITATION:
At Newmarket, on the 19th July, 1918, a bomb thrown during practice failed to clear the parapet and rolled back into the pit. The man who had thrown it lost his head, and instead of running out of the pit ran into a corner away from the entrance. Second Lieutenant Reekie, the bombing officer, who was in a position of safety, saw that there was no time to get the man out of the pit, and deliberately entered the pit and stood between the man and the bomb, shielding him with his body. The bomb exploded and the officer was seriously wounded, but the man escaped injury.
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: PRIVATELY HELD. SOLD AT DNW IN MAY 2019 FOR £5,000.
Acknowledgement:
Dix Noonan Webb – Image of the Reekie Albert Medal.