Orders, Decorations and Medals

Victory Medal 1914-19 (2 Lieut. W. T. Cole) nearly extremely fine £40-50

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Brigadier Brian Parritt, C.B.E..

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William Thomas Cole was born in Ripon on 9 July 1895. Employed as a Draper’s Assistant, he enlisted into the West Yorkshire Regiment on 19 July 1915. Posted to the 2/5th Battalion he entered the France/Flanders theatre of war on 5 January 1917. As a Sergeant he was severely wounded on 3 May 1917, during the Battle of Bullecourt, receiving a ‘severe gunshot wound to the left shoulder and chest’. He was evacuated firstly to the 49th C.C.S. then to the 10th General Hospital in Rouen and finally to Londonderry. On his recovery, on 27 July 1917 he returned to the 2/5th West Yorkshire Regiment in France where the Battalion was training for the Cambrai offensive. Here he was selected for officer training and returned to England on 25 October 1917. On 17 May 1918 he was commissioned into the 4th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment but returning to France he was posted to his old battalion at Pourcy. He was killed in action on 29 July 1918, aged 23 years, in the attack on Mont De Bligny. He was buried in the Chambrecy British Cemetery. 2nd Lieutenant Cole was the son of Philip and Annie Cole of 2 Blossomgate, Ripon, Yorkshire. Sold with copied service papers, m.i.c. and other research.