80: Private W. R. Wallace (medals)

These 4 medals belonged to Private W.R. Wallace, of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Though he was often at the centre of the fighting, he survived the war. The first medal is from the Boer War, the second is the Mons Star (5 August 1914 service medal), the third is the War Medal, and the fourth is the Peace Medal.

These medals were purchased at a junk shop in London.

I first started collected items relating to the First World War because I wanted to learn everything I could about my grandfather and his experiences as a volunteer soldier. A Father of five, he had enlisted (5th Battalion C Company) and was killed on 15 September 1916, just 11 days after first arriving in France.