World War 1 War Medal Goes Home.

 The British War Medal Found At Wembury.

As of late there has not been much action here on my blog due to standing in as supervisor in work and being called out at all times of the day and night while still trying to do my own shift. So really all I've been doing is working and sleeping. I'm not moaning really as the extra money will come in handy. On top of that I've done my back in, hobbling on a stick here at the moment so will be resting up today for work again tomorrow. This means I will be missing a club dig today which I'm disappointed about.

But....

Yesterday was a proud day for me. Back in August of this year I was out on a club dig at the village of Wembury and found a British World War 1 silver medal which I did a post about here. Inscribed around the edge of the medal was the soldiers name, rank and service number. Now I had heard the landowner was into the history of the village of Wembury and he had already organised a WWI exhibition in the village hall which was held yesterday. He was very pleased to accept this medal as part of the exhibition.

He didn't stop there, he went online and was able to trace the family of the soldier who lost the medal and he contacted me to come along to the WWI exhibition and present the medal to the family.
My wife and I went along to the exhibition in the morning so we could have a look around at all the interesting stands about the War and about the local people of Wembury who served in it.

Around midday things were called to order and it was announced there was a special occasion to be had. The announcer told the story of how the medal was found and then introduced me to the Granddaughter of the soldier who was awarded the medal. Where I proudly presented the medal to her. She had traveled down from Kent to accept the medal on behalf of the soldier's family and announced she couldn't believe how the medal turned up and was very happy to accept it.

The soldier lived through the war years but sadly died a few years ago aged 82. He did live in Plymouth and Sparkwell for some time but its a mystery how the medal ended up in a field in Wembury. One theory is that as he was a cabinet maker by trade he did travel around a bit with his job so could have spent a little time at Wembury.
As a cabinet maker he had a claim to fame down here in Devon as he made the ceremonial surround for the unveiling and opening of the Tamar Bridge in 1961 by the Queen Mother.

It was a very exciting and proud day for me. A couple of pictures were taken and I will upload them here as soon as I receive them through email.
The timing for the presentation was perfect, a WWI medal, at a WWI exhibition, and in the first WWI centenary year.

Sunday 16 November 2014.