A medal group I was given. A sad story.

[Adrian Stevenson]

What a fantastic story! I take my hat off to you Pat. Very well done indeed!

Cheers, Ade.

[davejb]

Ade yes really sad, I have a similar story but with a happier outcome. My uncle who was with a section of the Royal Marines, had been awarded his medals but because he was abroad until the wars end never recieved them.When he was about to move house about 5yrs ago ,he happened to mention this,so without his knowledge i wrote away to the medal section of the Marines and they confirmed that he hadnt been issued with them therefore they sent his medals to me and i prsented them to him along with the ribbons explainations etc.He was very pleased but then he said he wanted me to have because he had no children,i agreed but told him they would go into the presentation frame that i made for the naval dagger and portapee which he had been given by an officer on board the PRINZ EUGEN,whilst in harbour.they are there to this day along with two Kriegsmarine cap insignia,eagle and embroided cockade. Also did you notice that your friend Fred bears an uncanny resemblence to a young Alec Guiness.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Dave, that is a nice story. Well done for your efforts.

Yes, funny you say that, I thought of Alex Guiness too when I saw Fred.

Cheers, Ade.

[jimpy]

A few years ago I decided to make an inhabitable room out of an old lean-to on the back of my house......knocked a few windows in the walls and set about insulating the place. In the process I found a pencilled inscription on the original board wall: “Vernon Cooper 8 Jan.1937".

I knew that Vernon, a member of the last family to live in the house before it became a hunting cabin, had been killed in Italy, so a bit of research seemed in order.

Vernon was wounded in September 1944 but his regiment was stretched so thin that even the walking wounded were put back into the line (see “The Regiment” by Farley Mowat, who also served in the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division).

In mid-December, Vernon’s B Coy established a bridgehead north of the Naviglio Canal, but the tanks were slow in getting up to support them.

Not so the Panzers. They counter-attacked at dawn on 13 Dec.

B Coy kaput! Vernon was killed.

So there was no way I was going to cover up Vernon’s autograph on my wall, I framed the section, put glass over it, and behind it placed a set of the four medals he would have been entitled to, with a couple of Hasty-Pee collar dogs.

I also got the township to call my road Cooper Drive in his honor when they got around to allocating street names.

Moral of the story: Those of us who collect and respect the artifacts of war and honor the men (of all armies) who served honorably, are doing something important.

Well done mate!

[hawk3370]

Hi Guys, I though that I would share this medal group with you. In a way, the story behind these medals in quite sad.

Some years ago I was working at a house. My Dad knew the owner, Frank, from their days together at the village school. During one of the days we were working there, the conversation turned to the war. I was telling Frank about my Jeep etc as he was interested in old vehicles. Frank said "just a minute" and dissappeared upstairs. He came down and said "I would like you to have these". He handed me his Dad's medal and some photos of his Dad. I told him there was no way I could accept them. "These are your Dad's medals!" I told him. But Frank was insistant saying how he had no family and had never married. He said if he died they might well end up in the junk pile? So I kind of reluctantly agreed to acept them. As you can see, Fred (Frank's Dad) had never even put the medals onto thier ribbons, never mind even wore them. Each medal was still in it's cellophane wrapper. They had simply sat in the box for 50 odd years until I was given them. About two years after Frank gave me the medals, he sadly passed away.

Fred was a farm labourer in the village before and after the war. He was member of the Royal Army Service Corps and served in North Africa and Italy. Fred can be seen in the photo of the soldiers with the barrel of booze, him being the one in the middle.

The medals are the Africa Star, Italy Star and 1939-45 Star plus the War Medal 1939-1945.

Cheers, Ade.

Adrian,
Very touching, so glad the medals ended up with someone that can appreciate and care for them in the manner that they deserve. A very honorable tribute to the vet. Well done.
Terry