Having been promoted to temporary wing commander and appointed wing leader of No. 234 Wing RAF earlier in the month, Jeffrey was credited with a share in the destruction of a Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter on 20 November. Two days later he was shot down himself, but was uninjured and managed to make his way back to base. On 25 November, above cheering Allied soldiers besieged in Tobruk, Jeffrey led No. 3 Squadron and No. 112 Squadron RAF in an attack on Axis bombers that resulted in seven enemy aircraft being destroyed and eight damaged, against one Tomahawk lost. He scored his fifth solo victory during the engagement, shooting down a Bf 110, and damaged another. On 30 November, Jeffrey rescued one of his old comrades from No. 3 Squadron, Sergeant Pilot Allan Cameron, who had crash-landed behind enemy lines. Nicknamed "Tiny", Cameron had the bulkiest frame of any man in the unit, and after landing Jeffrey had to ditch his parachute to make room for his passenger in the Tomahawk's cockpit. He nevertheless managed to take off and return to base, and Cameron went on to survive the war and become an ace in the process. For this and other achievements Jeffrey was awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 12 December 1941. As well as his rescue of the downed pilot, the citation paid tribute to his "great success" as wing leader, his "fine fighting spirit" in returning to base after having been shot down himself, and to his "magnificent leadership, fearlessness and skill" that had "contributed in a large measure to the successes achieved". At the end of the month, Jeffrey was posted back to Australia to serve in the South West Pacific. He was credited with a total of five aerial victories in the Middle East, plus one shared and one damaged, though he was considered to be "conservative" in his scoring.