WW1 medal pair - British War Medal & Victory Medal - awarded to Private GEORGE JAMES BRACE of the Essex Regiment & Royal Welsh Fusiliers

Stock Reference – MM-MED-0023

WW1 medal pair - British War Medal & Victory Medal - awarded to Private GEORGE JAMES BRACE of the Essex Regiment & Royal Welsh Fusiliers 

You are looking at a British War Medal and Victory Medal pair awarded to Private GEORGE BRACE, originally of the  of the Essex Regiment, but who went on to serve with the 15^th and then the 14^th Battalion the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

His service number with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers was 55928.

The medals are inscribed ‘32754 PTE. G.J.BRACE. ESSEX R.’

GEORGE appeared in the War Office Daily List number 5547, that provides that he was wounded whilst serving with the RWF, the 14^th Battalion (15^th Battalion had been disbanded), incident date 23rd April 1918, and that his next of kin address was Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire, however, the incident date is in fact the publication date for the War Office list, and not the date GEORGE was injured, and bearing in mind there would have been a delay of around a month, possibly a little longer, between injury and appearance in the list, then it is likely he was wounded during the German Spring Offensive that took place March and early April 1918, possibly during ‘Operation Michael’ that began on the 21^st of March, or during subsequent fighting.

One of the military records relating to this soldier suggest he was in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in 1914, but this would appear to be wrong, because he only received the WW1 medal pair, so he didn’t receive the 1914-15 Star for early service during the war, and the number range in which his service number 32754 appears was believed to have been issued late 1916 to early 1917, so he is likely to have joined the Essex Regiment around this time, and not as early as 1914 as suggested.

There is a record of a GEORGE JAMES BRACE, the son of EDWARD JOHN and MARY ANN BRACE, who was born in 1895 and baptised at Nazeing All Saints in Essex on the 4^th of August that same year....Nazeing is roughly five mile northeast of Waltham Cross, the next of kin address provided in the War Office daily list mentioned.

SELLER NOTE = Supporting documentation obtained and / or created during my research into this medal will be provided.