Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Second Lieutenant J. W. Richards, Royal Air Force, late 67th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, who was killed in a flying accident near Stonehenge on 1 April 1918, the day the Royal Air Force was formed, and thus one of the very first R.A.F. casualties

British War and Victory Medals (2. Lieut. J. W. Richards. R.A.F.) nearly extremely fine (2) £100-£140

Joseph Wilfred Richards was born in Watlington, Oxfordshire, on 29 August 1889 and having emigrated to Canada attested for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force at Victoria, British Columbia, on 21 September 1915. Posted to the 67th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps on 18 March 1917, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant on 11 May 1917. Posted to 44th Training Squadron on 15 November 1917, and then No. 2 Auxiliary School of Aerial Gunnery, he was killed in a flying accident when piloting a DH4, accompanied by Lieutenant C. G. Jacob, at No. 1 School of Navigation and Bomb Dropping near Stonehenge on 1 April 1918, the day the Royal Air Force was formed, and thus one of the very first R.A.F. casualties. He is buried in Watlington (St. Leonard’s) Churchyard, Oxfordshire.

Sold with copied research including photographs of the recipient’s grave.