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Honouring Verdunites

Colour photograph of the obverse of four silver medals, with the effigy of King Georges V in profile and an inscription, attached to a short ribbon composed of seven vertical bands (bleu, black, white, orange, white, black, blue).

Date: 1919

Source: Canadian Centre for the Great War 

 

During the First World War, the Canadian Army awarded these wartime medals, in silver or bronze, to officers and soldiers who actively served in the war. In Verdun, some 3000 to 4000 medals were awarded to its soldiers. Among them, 642 Verdun soldiers received a special distinction from the British Army.

From left to right, the recipients of the four medals in the photograph:

  • John Dibble : 2nd Brigade, 3rd Brigade and 7th Battery
  • Robert Murray Philip : 24th and 148th Battalion
  • William Mearl Power : 199th Battalion, 1st Depot Battalion (1st Quebec Regiment), 23rd Canadian Reserve Battalion and 24th Battalion
  • George Frederick Wilson : 8th Brigade