Veteran coronavirus survivor reunited with stolen medals after leaving intensive care
‘I am over the moon as I did not expect to see my medals again’ says patient
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Your support makes all the difference.A war veteran who had medals stolen by burglars has been reunited with the items after being discharged from intensive care following treatment for coronavirus.
The military medals had been taken, along with other sentimental items, from the man’s family home in south Yorkshire at the end of January, according to north Yorkshire police.
A dog walker discovered the items on a roadside near Eggborough power station in north Yorkshire on Thursday 9 April, which led to a social media appeal by the North Yorkshire police to track down the owners.
In less than two hours after the campaign launched, a relative of the veteran’s family recognised the medals in the photos posted on the force’s Facebook page, and made contact with them.
The veteran, who wishes to remain anonymous, had just been discharged from the ICU after being treated for coronavirus when he heard that his possessions had been found.
He said: “I am over the moon as I did not expect to see my medals again – they mean so much to me as they represent my 22 years of service with The Light Dragoons.”
Among the items recovered by the police was a jewellery box containing his daughter’s first teeth, with a commemorative coin stating “Paige’s 1st teeth”.
Other sentimental possessions that don't belong to the veteran were found at the scene, including a Rotary watch that has the inscription ‘To Thomas Love Dad 1.11.95’ engraved on it. North Yorkshire police are still appealing to find the rightful owners of the items.
Police investigator Dave Pegg, burglary coordinators for North Yorkshire Police, said: “It was an incredible find by both the dog walker and one of our officers and within minutes of us sharing the appeal on Facebook, I was inundated with emails offering helpful advice on how we could help to identify the owners of the medals.
He added: “It’s one of the best parts of the job being able to reunite victims of burglary with their belongings, especially when they are as irreplaceable and sentimental as a set of medals.”
The police investigator commended the “fantastic community spirit and ‘brotherhood” of The Light Dragoons, thanking veterans for reaching out in support of the man who had his medals stolen.
One veteran Dragoon got in touch “offering to clean up the medals for the victim” with another sharing support all the way from Canada.
In another act of kindness from military veterans, retired British Army captain Tom Moore has raised £13m for the NHS after recently starting a fundraising campaign to support the health service during the coronavirus pandemic.
Captain Moore, who served in India and Burma, recently set out his plan to walk 10 laps of his garden every day until he reached 100 in total, prior to his 100th birthday at the end of the month.
Originally intending to raise £1,000 for NHS health workers, the veteran completed his 100th lap on Thursday 16 April, after raising more than 2,400 per cent of his initial target.
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