A co-volunteer at the clothes bank yesterday came across a French military medal from WW1 that literally fell out of a bundle of donated clothes. Looking it up online, it’s a Croix de Guerre dating from 1915, a decoration given for acts of bravery.
We’re not quite sure what to do. It is impossible to know where the donation of clothes came from, in order to try and locate the owner. Donations are often left anonymously at the clothes bank. It’s sadly quite possible that the donation came from somebody passing away at an EHPAD. It’s probably been completely forgotten.
We were initially thinking of perhaps selling it and using the proceeds to help the clothes bank. Unfortunately the medal seemingly has little monetary value as there are lots of examples around, given the widespread bravery displayed in that era. Per LBC it’s about 10€, or about £30 on eBay in the UK.
Can anyone think of sensible ideas to get it to a better final home? The initial research suggests that in the absence of any name to link the medal to a specific regiment or battle, military museums probably have enough equivalent medals. The same issue probably applies to Associations of Anciens Combattants.
If it were me… I would speak quietly with my Maire.
He and I often attend the various Commemorations for Anciens Commbattants etc etc…
and I am sure he would know who to make aware of this “find” and after that, it’s up to them to do whatever they feel correct as I would have passed the medal into safe /responsible hands.
It might well be that the Anciens don’t wish to be given the medal… but, even so, I’m sure they’d give You advice on how to “handle it with respect”.
good luck
EDIT: If we found such a medal… I reckon it would be mentioned in our local Bulletin (and word of mouth) , which might give the family of the lost medal an opportunity to recover it if they so wished. (just a thought)
I agree with Stella about a visit to your local Mairie.
An idea to posit might be, while assuming there may be more medals around or to come, to create a ‘panneau d’honneur’ to hang in the Mairie and attach medals as they come in. Villagers may be happy to see their ancestors name so honored, and solves the problem of which child should hold them.
A simple framed felt panel with a brass plaque would be nice.
I ask this question in ignorance of how things are done in France - are there any rules governing ‘lost and found’ property? I seem to remember that in the UK, people hand ‘found’ items in at the nearest police station. I’m not sure if that’s a legal obligation in the UK . . .
We asked the charity responsible for the clothes bank what they wanted us to do with it. We mentioned several of the various excellent suggestions made earlier in the thread..The response was basically ‘we have no idea!’ They didn’t think anyone locally would be interested in it, as a) there is no definite evidence to link it to this area (ie Normandy, Seine Maritime), and b) whilst not two a penny, Croix de Guerre are quite common.So it has eventually been agreed with the charity that the medal will be taken to the UK next month, by us, to offer to charity shops in an area where there are lots of retired military, and potentially military collectors. At least the medal should then end up with somebody that actually seems to want it, and a charity shop may even hopefully make a little money from it. A quick look at eBay for medals in the UK, indicates a stronger demand for foreign medals than the seeming lack of demand here, and/or on Le Bon Coin.
It’s a little disappointing not to find more enthusiasm locally, but there it is….
It must have been a very different experience in Continental Europe if you were invaded in the war. So it’s possible people wanted to forget it as soon as possible and that got transmitted down the generations ?
Final update to the saga of a WW1 Croix de Guerre medal falling out of a bundle of donated clothes… Today it has been donated to a UK hospice charity shop, in Tunbridge Wells. They will research its background a little more then try to sell it, to raise funds for the hospice, possibly on eBay.
Although it would be lovely to hear more about its history, personally I doubt they will be able to find out any more. There is no reference number on the medal to link it to a particular individual, campaign, area, regiment etc, other than knowing the year of award.
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