Many thanks for the comments Gentlemen, all of which are much appreciated. It sounds as though missing family medals is quite a common thing, so given the circumstances I really am very lucky to have found at least one of my grandfather’s medals. Having said that I’m sure I’m not alone in being reunited with lost medals - like the family of Thomas Swan whose story appeared in the press the year before last; see this
article in
The Telegraph from April 2010.
I have to admit that I hadn’t realised a large amount of British War Medals had been sold for scrap, as Marc has pointed out, so maybe my grandfather’s hasn’t survived after all. I’m crossing my fingers that it has of course, and that some kind soul out there will help me find it so I can put it to together with his Victory Medal and the Lambourne D.C.L.I. cap badge I managed to buy back in 2009; and which I posted to the Forum
here.
I am so very indebted to the seller who gave me the Victory Medal, and, as quite a few have noted, it’s great to know that there are folk out there who are honest and decent and really do care about such things. Still, I don’t think it would be right of me to name the person concerned in this instance – they know who they are, and today sent me a message saying how pleased they were to be able to return the medal to a family who have a genuine interest in what their relative had done during the War.
I’ve also now taken Andy’s advice and registered my search for my grandfather’s BWM on the
Medal Tracker site, as well as signing up to
The Medal Reunited Project. I am already a member of the
Great War Forum, so will post something up there too when I can, as Peter suggests, and have also made a posting to the
British Medals Forum (I think you have to join to view posts).
At the end of the day all I can do is hope for the best, that his War Medal has indeed survived being melted down, and that someone somewhere has it and is willing to help me reunite it with his Victory Medal. The wider I can cast the net the more chance there is that just might happen – I’d rather not have to wait another thirty years mind, as that would make me 75!! Anyroad, thanks again for all the replies, and if I have anything to report I’ll be sure to share it with the Forum.
Best regards
Martin