A Fine Collection of Awards to the Canadian Forces

Pair: Major J. D. Gunn, 5th (Western Cavalry) Battalion, Canadian Infantry, who was wounded and taken P.O.W. in the attack on Regina Trench on the Somme in October 1916

British War and Victory Medals (Major J. D. Gunn), good very fine (2) £100-150

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Awards to the Canadian Forces.

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James David Gunn was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 16 January 1893. A Bank Accountant by profession, he enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in September 1915.

Embarked for England, and commissioned in the 5th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, he went out to France in June 1916, where he was wounded and taken prisoner during the attack on Regina Trench on the Somme that October - out of the Battalion’s attacking force of 17 officers and 360 men, 13 officers and 288 men became casualties.

Repatriated via Switzerland in June 1918, he was admitted to hospital in London suffering from paralysis of the hip as a result of his earlier wound - a gunshot to the right leg - and following the findings of a Medical Board was invalided to Canada for further treatment; sold with copied service papers.