Nine medals named or attributable to Warrant Officer 1st Class William Bertie Land, B.E.M., Royal

Nine medals named or attributable to Warrant Officer 1st Class William Bertie Land, B.E.M., Royal Engineers: Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service (British Empire Medal), Elizabeth II (WILLIAM B. LAND), re-named in impressed capitals*, about extremely fine; 1914 Star with bar (15123 2. CPL W. B. LAND. R.E.); British War Medal 1914-20 (15123 A-SJT. W. B. LAND. R.E.); Victory Medal (15123 A. SJT. W. B. LAND. R.E.); Defence Medal, unnamed as issued; Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, George V (1851951 W. O. CL. II. W. B. LAND. R.E.); Meritorious ServiceMedal, George VI,coinage headwith FID: DEF (1851951 W. O. CL. 1. W. B. LAND. R.E.); Coronation Medal 1953, unnamed as issued; these seven mounted for wearing with a vacant length of ribbon at the start of the group, very fine and better, the MSM about extremely fine; Civil Defence Long Service Medal, unnamed as issued, cased, extremely fine or nearly so, [9]; offered together with a quantity of associated ephmera, including: photographs, loose and in an album, subjects including soldiers in uniform both in camp and in the field, France, Egypt and Macedonia in the Great War period, equestrian manoeuvres at Curragh; a leave form made out for the recipient; his National Registration Identity Card dated 1943; a group photograph of the Home Office Civil Defence School Easingwold, October 1950, including the recipient; correspondence relating to his service at the North Sea Camp Borstal, and other items.

William Bertie Land served in the Great War with 38th Field Company R.E., which went to France as part of 6th Division in September 1914 and saw action at Armentières in October. 38th Field Corps transferred to 28th Division in April 1915, and served in the Second Battle of Ypres. In October 1915 the Company entrained for Marseilles, travelling via Egypt to disembark in Salonika in January 1916. In October the Company constructed a bridge over the River Struma. The recipient served as a Warden in the Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire, during the 1940s. He also employed his engineering skills as Reclamation Foreman at H.M. Borstall North Sea Camp, which was founded on land reclaimed from the sea. It was for the latter service that he was awarded the B.E.M. in the Coronation Gazette of 1st June 1953.

Ref: Williamson.

* entitlement confirmed, medal presumed to be a replacement.