Royal Observer Corps medal and award letter.

[Falschirmjager]

This medal has been in local shop for some time and as it was awarded to a local recipient Observer C.N Saunders of Hampton Evesham Worcs I decided to buy it as it came with the original award notification letter and original box plus the small length of ribbon received with the notification letter and prior to receiving the actual medal. The letter is dated 1963 and I wonder which Air Commodore has signed the letter-from brief research would it A/C Wight Boycott???? Any ideas welcome.Attachment 889261

[Falschirmjager]

Having contacted the Royal Observer Corps Association they have confirmed a service record exists and a copy can be purchased for £10 which is no problem. Being a local man for the first time I decided to try Social Media in my research using a local page on Facebook called Spotted Evesham. Within a few minutes leads were coming in including the phone number to contact Mr Martin Saunders the son of Cyril Norman Saunders the man who was awarded this medal. I have since met Martin who was able to shine some light into his fathers service. His father had served with the Worcestershire Regiment but at this time we do not know how long he served and dates etc. His service took him post war to Palestine and Egypt and then he had at some point joined the Royal Observer Corps and served with them through the Cold War period when the ROC's role changed to that of UKWMO United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation. Their primary role was to observe and report should nuclear attack ever come to various sites within the UK. Thankfully this never happened but these guys had to do three week stints 15 feet below ground in cramped conditions and there would be three of them down there at a time, working, eating, sleeping etc. Everything they needed was in the bunker below ground inc rather primitive toilet. Hopefully once I have the whole story and service records I can write up a decent mag article for this man that many who knew him regarded as "one hell of a brave man"!

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

Hi, well done on pulling together so much research into this mans service. I have a nice WW2 and post war ROC medal group (below) myself, it has always been an area of interest to me as I was in the ROC (6 Group Headquarters) from Feb 1990 until the stand down in September 1991. Leon.

[Falschirmjager]

Superb what more can I say and thanks so much for posting as the ROC needs more recognition for the work they have done up until their standing down in the mid 1990's. Thanks Tim.