Dahl’s last tale of the unexpected as medals turn up 73 years on
Roald dahl’s widow could not have wished for a better present. after months of investigation by the storyteller’s family to track down his missing war medals, they turned up on the day of her 80th birthday.
the tales of the unexpected author, who died in 1990 aged 74, served with the raF during World War ii, narrowly escaping death when he crash-landed his fighter plane in the libyan desert.
His family were always curious why he never collected his medals and set about trying to retrieve them.
after submitting his service records six months ago, they suddenly arrived in the post from the Mod. dahl’s widow Felicity, known as liccy, who married dahl seven years before he died, had told friends that she didn’t want any gifts for her birthday.
But when dahl’s grandson ned donovan presented the medals to her at her party on Wednesday she was overjoyed, confiding that she would sleep with them under her pillow.
all four gongs were campaign medals including the 1939-45 Star;
the africa Star, a defence Medal, and the War Medal.
‘Seventy-three years late and 28 years after his death, my grandfather’s World War ii medals arrived in the post from the Mod,’ says ned.
‘a monumental bash on the head’ was how roald dahl described his crash in the Western desert, claiming that it directly led to his becoming a great storyteller.
His first published piece of writing was a semi-fictionalised account of the crash, and according to his
biographer Donald Sturrock, ‘ he suspected that the brain injuries which he received there had materially altered his personality and inclined him to creative writing’.
It is thought Dahl wasn’t automatically issued with the medals and would have needed to apply for them.
Ned said it was typical of his grandfather not to have picked them up. ‘It’s very him for him not to have collected his medals — he’d have thought it terribly uncool.’