WW2 medal pair – British War Medal & Victory Medal – Awarded to Private RONALD ALEXANDER of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, later Royal Engineers and Labour Corps

Stock Reference – MM-MED-0051 

WW2 medal pair – British War Medal & Victory Medal – Awarded to Private RONALD ALEXANDER of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, later Royal Engineers and Labour Corps

You are looking at a WW2 medal pair, British War Medal and Victory Medal, awarded to Private 57823 RONALD ALEXANDER of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, who was later transferred to the Labour Corps (service number 421602).

The medal is inscribed ‘57823 PTE. R.ALEXANDER. NORTH’D FUS.’ 

RONALD ALEXANDER was born c1884/85 at Broughton Gifford in Wiltshire, and he enlisted into the army on the 31^st of October 1916, at the age of 31 years according to his enlistment medical history record, and with his profession recorded as bricklayer and mason. 

He first served with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, with the service number 57823 issued at some point from late 1916, and he clearly served on the front line as such, because he was awarded the BWM and VM inscribed with his Royal Northumberland Fusiliers identity.  

It is not clear exactly what happened to him, however, but he appears to have transferred to the Royal Engineers, with his service number 204589 believed to have been issued around May to July 1917. At that time, the Royal Engineers were actively employing soldiers who had been removed from front line service for medical reasons but had transferrable skills that could still be used to support the front line war effort, and it is assumed a skilled bricklayer and mason would have been taken into their ranks.  

Sometime around August 1917, the Royal Engineer labour units were converted and became part of the newly formed Labour Corps, and RONALD served with their 20^th Labour Company, who served on the Western Front. 

And it was whilst he was serving in France, on the 31^st of July 1918, that he fell ill and was taken to the 1^st Australian Casualty Clearing Station at Blendecques near Saint Omer in the northern part of the country, who were receiving casualties fighting in the Lys and Hazebrouck area. From the 1^st Australian CCS, he was evacuated to the 18^th (Chicago USA) General Hospital at Camiers and from there, hospital ship back to England.

SELLER NOTE = This pair of medals were from a collection, 7 x medals in total, all awarded to soldiers with the surname ALEXANDER, and they were purchased in the believe that at least some would have been related to each other. From the research conducted, this has been found NOT to be the case, however, those seeking medals in the ALEXANDER surname should consider the others just in case they are connected in some way.

SELLER NOTE = Only very limited research has been conducted into this medal and its recipient.....Supporting documentation obtained and / or created during this research will be provided.