A recent find

[HARRY THE MOLE]

A recent - and rather poignant find of mine... a rosette and card given to a French soldier who had been called up in 1914 to join 48th regiment. During those first few weeks and months of the war everyone was full of optimism and patriotic fervour, keen to do their bit for their country before it all ended. The general view was that it would all be over by christmas, but how wrong they were. They volunteered in their thousands - totally oblivious to the horrors they were about to endure for the next four years.

[harryamb2]

nice find Harry,in good cond when you think of its age.

[carpediem]

I agree with harryamb2! Nice find and great condition for its' age and frailty!

[HARRY THE MOLE]

Now framed and ready to go on the wall with my other medals. My wife complains that she is finding it harder to see the wallpaper!

[plumbob]

Amazing condition both the rosette and card mate.
well done.
Nice displaying wall. I always find the stories of how bravery awards were won interesting. Is there any story to go with that military medal in the frame or has it been lost to time. Or have I missed it on the forum somewhere.
great stuff
Rod

[HARRY THE MOLE]

Hi Rod,

The medals and cap badges are those awarded to Pte Barclay James Stewart of 1/6th Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). He landed in France on may 2nd 1915 with 51st Highland Division. On August 18th 1915 he was slightly wounded in the neck. In June 1916 he transferred to 103 Coy, MGC. I can't lay my hands on the rest of his documents just now, but I do know that in 1916 he was court-martialled for smoking in the trenches while on standby duty - quite a serious offence when done at night! He was fined five days pay. He was done again for losing military equipment too. He was awarded his MM at the battle of Arras in 1917, and not long afterwards he was badly wounded in the leg. The three medals - Pip, Squeak, & Wilfred, and also the badges, are the originals of Pte Stewart. The MM is a modern - but die-struck nickel replacement which I added when I mounted and framed the set. In the 20's/30's when times were hard, it was not uncommon for army veterans to pawn their most valuable medal to get money to put bread on the table. They rarely had the money to buy them back. The WW1 trio's were so plentiful that pawnbrokers would only offer an absolute pittance for them, hence the reason why it is not uncommon to see bravery awards missing from WW1 medal sets.

Cheers,
Steve.