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Auction: 21002 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 118

Pair: Gunner W. J. Harris, Royal Field Artillery, who was twice wounded in action

British War and Victory Medals (132317 Gnr. W. J. Harris. R.A.), with named box lid, good very fine (2)

William Joseph Harris was born at Finsbury, London in 1892. Enlisting with the Royal Field Artillery in London on 26 April 1916, he entered the war in France on 19 August 1916 only to be invalided that September due to 'debility'. Returning to his unit the next month on 7 October 1916 it would not be long before he returned to hospital. While stationed at Arras he suffered a gunshot wound to his right arm on 19 February 1917, fortunately the wound was not fatal and he returned to duty on 10 March.

Harris remained out of trouble for much of the remainder of 1917 however in October he was reported overdue for leave and detained by the police at Dalston Station. As it turned out he had applied for an extension to his leave in order to remain with his wife who had suffered a breakdown following a recent bombing raid. Ironically it was Harris himself who was to suffer in a bombing raid only several months late when his unit's camp near Racquinghen was bombed on 19 May 1918. Harris was one of two men noted as wounded although his medical records note only a gunshot wound on 24 May. Harris was discharged on 27 August 1917; sold together with handwritten notes, RFA war diary entries and service records.

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Sold for
£35

Starting price
£30