3.2.2016 Medals from World War I

The medal from the First World War was found by a trio of searchers in Wales. They discovered it while resting and waving around a metal detector, which gave a strong signal.

A team of searchers - Glyn Thomas, Su Wright and Chris Jeffreys - with metal detectors from Swansea found the First World War medal five years ago. They discovered it in a field in Porthcawl, Bridgend. It's a victory medal, which was awarded to soldiers from all countries who took part in the war on the side of the Triple Axis. It was awarded as a commemorative.

The medal found belonged to William John Boaden who joined the 3rd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment. A team of searchers have been trying to find out what happened to the owner of the medal after the war and why exactly the medal ended up in the field. Boaden was born in Liverton, Devon, on 25 March 1897 and had only signed up to the army at the age of 17 when the war broke out.

According to information from the National Archives, Boaden survived the war, but there is no further record of what happened to him. "It is really a mystery to us where the medal came from in the field. It was grazed by cattle and hadn't been ploughed for at least a hundred years, so I really don't know how the medal got there. We found it after we sat down on a fallen tree trunk to rest. I waved my metal detector around and a strong signal went off at the roots," said Chris Jeffreys.

Boaden served in the Devonshire Regiment during the First World War, serving in France, Belgium, Italy as well as Egypt and Palestine. They also fought in northern Russia after 1919, where civil war broke out. The medal is badly damaged but Boaden's name and regimental number are still visible. According to information found by searchers on the internet, the man apparently emigrated to South Australia in the 1930s.

"The site where we found the medal was used as an anti-aircraft battery during World War II. We had previously discovered several spent shells there, so we thought the medal was lost there by Boaden during training with the Home Guard or reserves. Or maybe one of his sons who trained there had it as a memento," Jeffreys further speculated.

The trio of prospectors had only been metal detectors for three years. But they have already found Roman jewellery, coins from the reign of Elizabeth I and James I. "We are not giving up and hope that one day we will find the Boaden family and give the medal to them so they can have a memory of their relative," Jeffreys concluded.

Sources: www.bbc.com