Canadian Memorial Crosses

[Laurence Strong]

I only knew about Birks making them, but there had to be more makers.

[Tony]

Nice lot Darrell, shame they had to die for them.

Do you know if the crosses ever have assay marks or is Canadian silver always marked sterling?

Now I'm thinking about it, British medals and Military Crosses etc. don't have any kind of silver mark do they.

Tony

Edited August 30, 2006 by Tony

[Guest Darrell]

Well I didn't even know I had this little graphic off some site ... some where .. some time ago. In fact the "R" "STERLING" one above was in fact RODEN as the case says.

[Guest Darrell]

Another Memorial Cross arrived today. This is a King George V version (issued for the WW1 fallen).

This one is for a ARTHUR WILLIAM WILSON. He died on May 11, 1919. I would assume (as I have yet to get research done) he died from wounds received in WW1.

Cross Obverse:

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Cross Reverse:

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Top of Case:

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Bottom of Case:

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Case Hinge:

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Cross in Case1:

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Cross in Case 2:

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Cross in Case 3:

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Finally .... this broach came with it ... maybe his daughter's?

Anyone know anything or seen these before. Appreciate some info.

St. John Ambulance Award Obverse:

Edited October 24, 2006 by Darrell

[Guest Darrell]

Reverse:

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A few War Graves Commission Details:

1.

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2.

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3.

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4.

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Book of Remembrance with his name listed (1919):

[Guest Darrell]

Here's a very moving and history making event regarding the Memorial Cross for a recent casualty in Afghanistan:

Saturday, Dec 09, 2006

Fallen soldier's daughter now youngest Memorial Cross recipient

(CP PHOTO/Frank Gunn) ST. CATHARINES, Ont. (CP) - Eleven-year-old Danika Storm was bestowed a tragic yet historic honour at her father's funeral Friday when military brass informed her she had become the youngest-ever recipient of the Memorial Cross.

Cpl. Albert Storm, one of two soldiers killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan last week, lost his own mother years earlier and was divorced from the mother of his two children.

The Memorial Cross, a military memento previously granted only to mothers and widows, fell to Danika at a private ceremony held just hours before Storm - "Stormy" to his friends - received a full military funeral in this southern Ontario town.

The blonde-haired youngster broke down in tears as one of her father's colleagues eulogized the 36-year-old soldier, telling Danika and her brother Joshua, 13, to "be proud of your daddy, a hero."

"Stormy . . . (was) clearly able to face the devil without fear . . . finally paying the ultimate sacrifice," Storm's commanding officer, Maj. Peter Scott, told hundreds of mourners gathered in the city's armoury.

Storm and Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Girouard, his battalion's regimental sergeant major, were in an armoured personnel carrier when a civilian vehicle drove alongside and detonated explosives on Nov. 27.

The Fort Erie, Ont., native was a decorated soldier who had served in trouble spots around the globe, including Bosnia and Croatia.

On Friday, Col. Denis Thompson presented Danika with the cross and "told her the she was the youngest recipient," said a military spokesman.

The spokesman confirmed it was the first time the daughter of a fallen soldier, rather than a wife or mother, had received the honour.

Colleagues, friends and family recalled the "brute force strength" the burly Storm often displayed, whether squatting nearly 160 kilograms of weight in the gym or moving a military water trailer by hand when no truck was available.

"Albert was wonderful with his rough, strong hands," his older brother George told the congregation through tears.

"Amazingly, he was gentle with his hands and his children. I've seen him cuddle his son and his daughter with compassion in his hands and eyes."

Storm, who was three years from retiring from the Forces, was the "kind of guy who when asked to dig a hole, would probably dig all the way to China if you didn't tell him to stop," Scott said.

"That was the way Stormy was: quiet, but a force to be reckoned with."

Storm, who was an army cadet prior to enlisting in the Canadian Forces in 1990, was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Mourners heard that Storm had been waylaid last year with a knee injury serious enough that his superiors told him his military career was over.

"He had just received a letter from Ottawa stating that he would be released from the military because of medical reasons," said Scott.

"It was clear that Stormy was having none of this, and it was pretty clear he was going to go to Afghanistan no matter what."

An intensive year of weight training proved to his superiors he was fit for the mission in Afghanistan, Scott said.

Following the funeral, Storm's flag draped casket was carried past an honour guard and into a waiting hearse as his family looked on in the chill air.

He was to be laid to rest of the foot of his mother's grave during a private interment ceremony Friday afternoon.

Forty-four Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002. Thirty-six of them died this year.

? The Canadian Press, 2006

[AJHaslett]

I've posted this shot before elsewhere, but here are a few from my collection...WWI and WWII examples...mostly separated from groups I have.

Cheers,

Adam

[Guest Darrell]

I've posted this shot before elsewhere, but here are a few from my collection...WWI and WWII examples...mostly separated from groups I have.

Cheers,

Adam

Oh Yeah

[AJHaslett]

Have a couple more enroute...will see about doing some more detailed posts on some of the nicer ones I have if there is interest in these...

[Laurence Strong]

Nice one's Adam, nice to see you here

[Tony]

My first Memorial Cross bought from Dave B the other week. It's cased but lacking the ribbon and has the Caron brothers stamp on the reverse.

Desmond Robert Ashe was from Killarney and was considered fit for the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force on 16.11.15. He served as a member of the 43rd Battalion, Manitoba Regiment and was killed on 8.10.16, he's remembered on the Vimy Memorial. He must have only arrived in France a few months before being killed.

Desmond had previously served in the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars.

Where was the Manitoba Regiment in October 1916, in the Vimy area or just a bit further south on the Somme, does anyone know?

Tony

Edited March 9, 2007 by Tony

[Tony]

Obverse