Fred’s family find war medal
A HALIFAX soldier’s First World War medal has been reunited with his family.
Sergeant Fred Perry was serving with the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment in Italy in 1918 when he went above and beyond the call of duty, for which he later was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry
His grandson Phil Elliott happened to pop-in to a Great War Exhibition at Square Chapel, and after meeting Rob Hamilton, chair of the Halifax Great War Society, was amazed to learn Mr Hamilton had his grandfather’s medal in his collection.
“I think the word
is gobal smacked!” said Mr Hamilton. “The exhibition was downstairs at Square Chapel, and I’d only popped upstairs to the front desk for a few minutes, and happened to get talking to Mr Perry’s grandson.
”He was talking about his grandfather, and when he said he had been awarded the medin Italy, that’s what piqued my interest, and all the information we shared with each other after that checked out.”
Mr Perry, who lived in Southowram, was a sergeant taking part in trench raids, and after clearing his section helped the section next to them to clear theirs too on June 20 and 21.
“The medal has a lot of meaning to it, and it’s nice to have it,” said Mr Elliott, of Savile Park, Halifax.
“We don’t have much in the way of mementoes of him, other than one or two photos.
“He didn’t tell us he’d been awarded the medal. But we now know his platoon was presented to the King of Italy and it’s possible he presented my grandfather with the medal.”
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