Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Private A. Fraser, 47th Battalion (British Columbia), Canadian Infantry, a stretcher-bearer who was killed in action whilst trying to save a wounded comrade in a shell-hole on the Western Front, 31 March 1917

British War and Victory Medals (790564 Pte. A. Fraser. 47-Can. Inf.); Memorial Plaque (Alexander Fraser) with a neat drill hole at 12 o’clock; Canadian Memorial Cross, G.V.R. (790564 Pte A. Fraser.) with recipient’s identity disc, nearly extremely fine (4) £200-£240

Alexander Fraser was born in Kinloch Rannoch, Perthshire, Scotland in February 1885. He was educated at the Glassary Public School, Kilmichael. Fraser emigrated to Canada, and was employed as a Gardener at the Stanley and Strathcona Parks, Vancouver. Prior to the Great War he attested for the 104th Regiment, Westminster Fusiliers of Canada. Fraser served with the 47th Battalion (British Columbia), Canadian Infantry on the Western Front, and was killed in action, 31 March 1917. Private Fraser is buried in the Villers Station Cemetery, France.

A comrade wrote:

‘On the night of 31 March we had a raid on the German trenches, and your boy was one of the stretcher-bearers to volunteer to go over and do his bit, and it was while doing his duty he was killed. We had been over and were on our way back, when your boy came across a wounded comrade in a shell-hole. He stayed behind to assist him, and that was the last we saw of him till the following night, when our scouts went out to bring him. It seems as if a shell had burst and buried them. Your boy seems to have scrambled out, but no one knows for sure, but nothing was seen of the comrade whose wounds he was dressing. On 3 April he was buried in the Canadian Military Cemetery, Carency.’

Sold with copied service papers, and research.