1917 VICTORIA CROSS MEDAL SEIZED BEFORE AUCTION Público Deposited

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  • The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 17, April 25, 2004, Article 10

    1917 VICTORIA CROSS MEDAL SEIZED BEFORE AUCTION

    On April 6, The Toronto Star reported that the Royal Canadian
    Mounted Police seized a rare medal believed to have been
    stolen from a museum in 1973. The medal had been awarded
    to Cpl. Filip Konowal, a Ukrainian immigrant to Canada.

    "RCMP officers have seized a rare Canadian-won Victoria
    Cross from a London auction house that was preparing it for
    sale."

    "Konowal, then 30, was one of 10,000 Ukrainian-born
    immigrants who enlisted in the Canadian forces to fight in World
    War I. War records show that in August, 1917, at Hill 70 in
    France, he single-handedly took out three gun positions and
    killed 16 German soldiers.

    Konowal's medal was pinned on him by King George V, as
    he lay in an English army hospital "after half his face was shot
    away by a German sniper" the day after his heroic exploit,
    Luciuk said.

    Luciuk said the war hero left the medal to his widow "who fell
    on hard times and sold it to a collector," who in turn sold it to
    the war museum for $3,750."

    [For the full story, see: Full Story

    For biographical information on Konowal, see: Biographical Info

    The medal has been in the news before. This article from
    1999 states that the medal had been lost for years and
    was replaced with a replica. Replica Article ]

URL da fonte Data de publicação
  • 2004-04-25
Volume
  • 7

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