News

In his 21-year career as a truck driver for the City of Victoria, Rick Brown has found plenty of unusual items abandoned on the city's boulevards - furniture, jewellery, stolen stereos, shotgun shells and even the severed heads of downtown parking metres.

But nothing has ever piqued his curiosity like a First World War medal he discovered while rummaging through a pile of discarded electronic parts a year and a half ago.

"I was looking for a car adaptor for [charging] my cellphone and I was surprised to find this old war medal at the bottom of the pile," Mr. Brown recalled. "I knew it was military and I knew it was the First World War. Once I saw that, I couldn't just turn my back on it and leave it there."

Noting that the name of the medal's recipient - Major G.D. Walker - was engraved on the side, Mr. Brown pocketed the item with the intention of one day finding its rightful owner, "or at least [Major Walker's] next of kin."

Eighteen months later, with the search for information about Major Walker's military career at a dead end, the City of Victoria is pleading for help in solving the mystery.

"It's coming on Remembrance Day now and we only have one World War One veteran left alive in Canada, so I think the family would be happy to get it back," said David Myles, a manager in the city's public works department and a long-time military reservist.

"I know if my medals were lost, my family would be very anxious to get them back."

Mr. Myles, who spent the last year researching the medal, said the military archives in Ottawa could find no mention of a Major G.D. Walker. He also checked with police to see if the medal had been reported stolen, but came up empty.

"He could have been British or Australian and then immigrated to Canada after the war, or perhaps his family members [immigrated] here and brought the medal with them," Mr. Myles said. "He could have died a long time ago."

Known as a First World War "victory medal," the 36-millimetre bronze medallion has a winged figure signifying victory on the front, and the words "The Great War for Civilization 1914-1919" written on the back.

Millions of victory medals were issued to veterans of 14 different countries who served under the Commonwealth banner in the war, said Mark Jackson, manager of Command Post, a Victoria store specializing in military memorabilia.

While allies such as Brazil and Japan issued unique versions, the Canadian and British models were almost identical, he said.

"They're not valuable on their own, but it could be more valuable if it's part of a set, depending on who the guy was," Mr. Jackson said. "There's probably a whack of medals missing if he was a major. He would have had quite a bit of responsibility."

If the medal belonged to an enlisted man, a military historian would be able to track down the owner based on the regiment or unit number engraved on the medal. However, those numbers were rarely included on medals given to officers, Mr. Jackson said.

Mr. Brown, whose father served in the Canadian army during the Second World War, said he's hopeful that the city's plea will uncover some new information about the mysterious medal.

"I have my own miniature medals my mother made for me that are an exact copy of my father's, so I know how important they are," he said. "Those guys gave up a lot. It's a part of our military history."