A PAIR of First World War medals unearthed in a High Park garden will go on display at a military museum.
In July, LookBack told the story of how Paul Edwards discovered the medals in undergrowth while working in the grounds of his daughter’s Canning Road home – and started a quest to return them to the descendents of their rightful owner.
All that was known about him was his name, a Private Frank Webb, and military number, which were engraved on the medals.
Southport’s branch of the Royal British Legion was enlisted in the search for Pte Webb’s family which – after months of research plus an appeal in LookBack – has proved ultimately unsuccessful.
Eric Lewis, RBL branch president, told how a colleague had apparently made a breakthrough by searching through old copies of the Southport Visiter.
One edition listed local soldiers returning home from the front and linked a Frank Webb to an address in Hawkshead Street.
“We went through the deeds of the people who lived there but found no reference to him or his family, and the trail went cold,� said Mr Lewis.
That outcome led to the decision to donate the two medals – an Allied Victory Medal and a British War Medal – to the Royal Logistics Corps Museum at Deepcut barracks in Surrey.
The medals had shown Pte Webb to have been a member of the Army Service Corps, a forerunner to The Royal Logistics Corps.
A letter of thanks from the museum made clear the value of Mr Edwards’s find to their collection.
It said: “It is unusual for a museum to receive these medals with their original ribbons intact as they were originally issued and worn by the recipient.�
Mr Lewis, who recently turned 91, added: “We were a little disappointed not to locate the family of Pte Webb, but very pleased at the museum’s interest in these medals.�
Southport Royal British Legion president Eric Lewis with Private Frank Webb’s Great War medals, which have now been donated to a military museum
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