Returned to hero’s family after 31yrs, WWI medal found in a vegetable patch
MIKE Iacovelli was just seven when he discovered what he believed was an old coin buried in a vegetable patch in his back garden.
It was covered in dirt, so he cleaned it up and managed to convince his mother to take him to his local museum, where he discovered it was in fact a First World War medal.
Now, 31 years on, he has handed it to the granddaughter of the soldier it was awarded to after tracing her through Facebook.
After posting an appeal online, Mr Iacovelli was put in touch with Carol Griffiths, 75, whose grandfather, Gunner Arthur Hammond was killed in 1917.
She still lives just 300 yards from where he first found the medal as a boy in Worcester.
The Victory Medal was awarded posthumously to Gunner Hammond after he died on June 12, 1917, while fighting on the Western Front aged 24.
Like all the campaign medals, it is inscribed with his name, service number and unit. The medal, showing a winged figure representing victory, is inscribed ‘The Great War for Civilisation 1914-1919’ on the rear. It was awarded to all those mobilised for war service and was sent to Gunner Hammond’s widow in Worcester but somehow ended up in fields that were later developed into housing.
One of those houses was where Mr Iacovelli lived in the 1980s when he came across the medal while digging. ‘It has been treasured by me for many years with my intention of one day finding the rightful owners,’ he said.
‘Understandably, back in the early 80s, with nothing much other than the use of an encyclopedia, there was not much I could find.’
Mr Iacovelli, 38, emigrated to Toronto in 2004 and only came across the medal recently among his old coin collection. After posting an appeal on Facebook group Worcestershire Memories, he was put in touch with Mrs Griffiths.
She said: ‘Having the medal awarded to my grandfather is wonderful. It’s a piece of our family history that has suddenly come alive.’