The Bomber Command D.F.C. group of five medals to Pilot Officer John Brian Wood Birks, R.A.F.V.R.:

The Bomber Command D.F.C. group of five medals to Pilot Officer John Brian Wood Birks, R.A.F.V.R.: Distinguished Flying Cross, George VI, reverse dated 1942 to lower arm and privately named (J. B. W. BIRKS); 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; Defence Medal; War Medal 1939-45 with Mention in Despatches emblem to the ribbon; loosely display mounted for display and with an associated case for the DFC, very fine. [5]

D.F.C. London Gazette 27/10/1942
M.I.D. London Gazette 02/06/1943

The recommendation for this officer's D.F.C. states that as of August 1942 he had flown on 30 operational sorties with 150 Squadron R.A.F., including raids on Kiel, Brest and Hamburg. He took part in the attempted daylight raid on the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on the 12th of February 1942, and on the 21st of that month he was returning from a 'Scuttle' operation (a daylight raid against targets of opportunity) when his aircraft crashed into a hill near Manby in Lincolnshire resulting in the deaths of four crewmen. The recommendation credits him with a "fine offensive spirit".