Simpleton
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Dear Holyboy and David Parker,
I purchased Sir Charles Wakefield Gold Medal many years ago and spent many years researching this difficult subject.
I have now completed an 80 page booklet on the subject which is about to go to the printers.
But I did not have the names Parker or Hendry. I would like to get in touch with you about this.
My email is berniegreen@live.co.uk
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Albert Medal Citation and The Sir Charles Wakefield Medal
in Great Britain: Research, Documentation & History
Posted
L15 Zeppelin & The Wakefield Gold Medal
Narrative non-fiction, educational.
The title is L15 & The Wakefield Gold Medal by Bernard. A. N. Green
It tells the story about Sir Charles Cheers Wakefield, Lord Mayor of London 1915-1916 and the beautiful gold medal that he produced. This was for gunners that shot down the very first Zeppelin, to be brought down over London. He had offered £500 to the gun crew that shot down the first Zeppelin, but the War Office was opposed to this cash prize, so Lord Wakefield offered a gold medal.
The war Office ended up making him give a medal to every gunner and searchlight operator, a total of 353 medals. The lord Mayor was told it was to be called a medallion and the War office ensured that there was no record of this medal or the recipients. The irony of the situation is that later when the 2nd Zeppelin was shot down by Lt Leefe Robinson of the RFC, he received a cash prize of £3,500 and the Victoria Cross.
The Appendix records the names of 241 men with the Corps or Regiment of those that received the Lord Wakefield Gold Medal. It is quite likely that many medals were sold for their gold value as the families were unable to find any information related to the medal’s history. Unfortunately, there is no known personal account by Sir Charles Wakefield concerning the events surrounding the shooting down of the L15 or the award of the Wakefield Medals.
This book is available on Ebay.