I have thought long and hard before buying this group and even now it still disturbs me a bit to think that this is all that remains of a young man who paid the ultimate price for his service to his country. i mentioned this group in a thread a few weeks back and I am still not sure that buying these was the best thing to do, though at least now they will again be honoured and displayed with pride for this gallant Welshman who died in the service of his nation.
He must have been well loved and missed as the plaque has been polished so often his name has almost been removed from the years of polishing it. The frames are home made and the items had already been removed when I bought them and hints that perhaps his family had little money or maybe they were lovingly hand made by a relative, though sadly now are a bit worse for the passing of so many years and appear to have been neglected for some time.
He was born in Newquay in Cardiganshire and died of his wounds on the 31st of July in 1917 after service in France & Flanders. He enlisted in Pentre in Glamorganshire into the 11th Service (2nd Gwent) Battalion of the South Wales Borderers, his service number was 44388 and his name was John Davies and he was a private.
They came from a local dealer who removed them from their frames, partly because of their condition and also to be able to read the details on the Victory Medal to enable them to be researched and I am not sure whether it would be best to attempt to restore the original frames or have them re-framed by a professional framer.
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