“It has a lot of meaning to it” - Halifax soldier’s First World War medal back 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 received 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.

Mr Elliott, who lives in Savile Park, said: “I wasn’t planning on visiting the exhibition. I was just in Square Chapel having a coffee and thought I would pop in.

”I got talking with Rob, and eventually learned that he had this medal in his collection.”

”I think the word is gobsmacked!” 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 medal in Italy, that’s what piqued my interest, and all the information we shared with each other after that checked out.

”I’m a medal collector and this was advertised by a dealer in Huddersfield. I think he had bought it as part of a collection himself.

”Mr Perry’s grandson said the family story was that his grandson said he gave his medals to someone in a pub in Halifax. That’s all he knew.”

Mr Hamilton said 115,000 of the medals were awarded during the First World War.

”You had to do something special to earn it,” he said.

”It’s not as high as a Victoria Cross, it’s one level below that.

”This was awarded to Fred Perry of Beacon Hill Road for his actions in Italy, which is quite rare in itself.

”He was a sergeant taking part in trench raids, which were a common occurrence.

”He cleared his section and then helped the section next to them to clear theirs as well, on June 20 and 21.”

”He was 22 in 1918 and had been serving since 1914,” said Mr Elliott.

”He was injured in the Battle of the Somme. The family knew he had come home injured during the war and went back.

”I remember him telling stories from the war to me, my dad and my uncle.

”I always felt a strong connection to him because of that.

”He’d tell stories of being stranded in no-man’s land all on his own, and throwing grenades to keep the enemy away.

”He was sent to Italy in the middle of winter, and the locals would give the soldiers every last bit of food and drink they had, even though they were desperately poor.

”The medal has a lot of meaning to it, and it’s nice to have it. 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.”