Holy Grail-ish with a family link.

[Alan O]

Alex

Thank you for that. I will have a look.

Alan

[mike_vee]

Found info about another soldier from the 8th which shows how details of awards were delayed :

.....was wounded in fighting on April 10,1918 near Harlebeke in Belgium, taken prisoner, dying in a German casualty unit, and buried by them on April 11, 1918.

His death was not confirmed to the family until September 1918, when they also heard that he had won the Military Medal for bravery in the field.

.

[Waterloo1815]

Alan,
That's a great family collection. Would love to see it when's it's finally framed.
Leo

[Sonofacqms]

The helmet looks to be of the Great War era, the holes in the top could be made from bullets or shrapnel.

This house seems full of treasures, what else is there lurking . . !

Rob

[Alan O]

The holes seem to have been made by something going through from the inside rather than the top so I don't think it was being worn when it was shot or hit by shrapnel.

[High Wood]

Western Daily Press 13th December 1918.

[Alan O]

I have gone through the war diary and he is not mentioned by name but he was almost certainly in action with the 8th Bn at the Battle of Messines the week before his death. I can only assume that he was written up for the MM after/just before being wounded and he subsequently died of wounds a few days after the battalion was withdrawn from the line.