medals

[paulz]

I've been given my Grandad's ward medals from WW1. No-one in the family knows what he got them for. How do I find out more, should I put them on the house insurance - what would be the value? My Dad was entitled to some from WW2 but never claimed them. Can I if he's still alive? Daughter's school is doing a project for school over the next 12 months and it'd be nice for her to have bit sets of Grandparents & Great Grandparents medals for the project. Her other Great Grandad was awarded the Legion d'Honnuer just a few weeks before he died. What would be the insurance value for that?

[quattro]

I can answer one of your questions my father lost all his medals when we played with them as kids we got him replacements which we had to pay for as a bithday present a couple of years ago .They were'nt too expensive we had to have his service number and we contacted his regiment who got the ball rolling.

[anthomson]

My guess is you will have three medals - I believe these were awarded to all the soldiers in the WW1 in recognition for thier services as a whole rather than individual acts of heroism. However one of the medals should have your grandfather's regiment and regimental number inscribed on the back. Using these it should be possible to trace from army records what batallions(fighting units) your granddad belonged to during his service (it was common for soldiers to change regiments as they got lost and found on the battlefields). The records office is in London - but there are many individuals on the internet who will do the leg-work for you ( I think we paid about �40 for this service ). Once you know the regiments, batallions and dates it should be possible to research which campaigns and battles your granddad was actually involved in. There is an absolute wealth of this type of information on the internet and loads of really good books. To find out more about an individual you would probably have to check the officer's log-books. These are usually located at the regimental HQ. Hope this helps.

[anthomson]

The three medals above were commonly called : Pip, Squeak and Wilfred (Star, Victory and War). You can find a good description of them with photos on the following link :

http://www.1914-1918.net/pipsqueak.htm

[Kelvin]

The 1914-15 Star is worth �7 - �15, the War Medal �6 -�10 and the Victory medal �3 - �5. The Legion D'Honneur neck badge is worth �180 - �200 and the breast badge �30 - �60 (Medal Year Book 1999)

[Kelvin]

WW2 Medals can still be claimed, write to the MOD Army Medal Office, Government Office Buildings, Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire WR9 8AU.