Pair: Captain W. J. Moody, Royal Army Veterinary Corps

British War and Victory Medals (Capt.) extremely fine (2) £100-120

William John Moody qualified as a Veterinary Surgeon at the Royal Veterinary College, London in 1904 and was a Cranston Gold Medallist. He received his F.R.C.V.S. in 1909. After practising in Oxford he held a professional appointment at the Royal Veterinary College, Edinburgh, before going to the Club Hipico in Santiago, Chile.

In the Great War he was appointed to a temporary commission as Lieutenant in the Royal Veterinary Corps on 17 January 1916, entering the France/Flanders theatre of war on 16 March 1916. He was promoted Captain on 17 January 1917 and after serving 11 months in France was transferred to Macedonia. But in August 1917 he was invalided to England suffering from Neurasthenia, the causes for which were vividly elaborated upon in a contemporary medical report:

‘I have examined the above officer [Captain W. J. Moody] on several occasions. In my opinion he is unfit for further service in Macedonia. The physical and emotional shocks to which he has been exposed are more numerous and more serious than would be gathered from the statement of the medical board. Long before the war, in 1905, he was severely shaken in the Valparaiso earthquake. Since the war, he was on board the S.S. Bandfield which was sunk by gun-fire of a German cruiser ... He served 11 months in France and then 8 months in Macedonia. In March 1917 at Caussica he was in an air raid, again at Karasuli and again at Janes. At Caussica he saw his batman’s head blown off; at Karasuli an aerial torpedo killed 5 men 20 yards away from him. Ever since, he has had insomnia and felt nervous at the sound of aeroplanes... ’

Moody retained the rank of Captain on relinquishing his commission on 4 April 1919 and gained appointment to the command of a district on the Gold Coast between the Wars. Following the renewal of hostilities, he was attached to M.I.5 and received a special commendation for his work. Captain Moody died on 12 June 1950. Sold with copied service papers and obituary.