The other day I went out with my Explorer SE Pro, it was only fair as I'm sure she has been feeling a little lonely since the arrival of the CTX 3030. In the UK there isn't much land available during this cropped up time of year but I managed to find a thin sliver of land being used as game bird cover. It was about 150 metres by 50 metres.
In this tiny parcel of land I found a new Roman settlement site a dark area packed full of broken pottery....and also some medieval finds including 2 hammered silver coins. However from around 11 inches down came a most unusual find something else made of silver. At first I thought it was a huge George V Crown coin but I could feel an attachment to it. Cleaning it off I could see that it was in fact an example of the War Medal issued in 1919 and made of solid silver.
Now I know enough about decorations to know that most WW1 issues actually have the recipient's name stamped around the edges. Later when I got home I cleaned the medal and could clearly read Private W. Janeway 29219 Royal Fusiliers. Research showed that Walter Janeway was born in the very village I located the find at in the year 1876. He emigrated to Canada in 1913 but came back in 1914 and signed up as quite an old soldier.
In 1917 he transferred to the Labour Corps. Walter survived all the horrors of the Great War and returned to his pre war occupation as a farm worker. Sadly he died in 1938 aged 62. How his medal came to be in the corner of a field is something that intrigues me. Perhaps on a Sunday or for a commemoration service he wore his "best clothes" and the medal whose clasp broke just slid down his front undetected, landing in the stubble only to be detected finally by me at a much later period.
The best thing about all this is research has traced a relative and it looks like Walters long lost medal will finally be an item to be treasured by the Janeway family once again.
Thanks Minelab without you guys this would have been impossible.
Jules - Hertfordshire, UK
