1917 VICTORIA CROSS MEDAL SEIZED BEFORE AUCTION Público Deposited
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 ]- 2004-04-25
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