Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War M.M. group of three awarded to Private G. C. Sanson, Canadian Machine Gun Corps, late 1st Canadian Pioneers, who was decorated for his gallantry at Passchendaele in October 1917 and wounded in March 1918

Military Medal, G.V.R. (154566 Pte. G. C. Sanson, Can. M.G.C.); British War and Victory Medals (154566 Pte. G. C. Sanson, Can. Pnr. Bn.), together with the recipient’s C.E.F. War Service Badge, the reverse officially numbered ‘63739’, contact marks, very fine (3) £250-300

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the Canadian Expeditonary Force 1914-1918.

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M.M. London Gazette 4 February 1918. The original recommendation states:

‘During the operations near Passchendaele on 29-30 October 1917, as a Gunner on machine-guns, he constantly volunteered for dangerous duties, guided ammunition parties through intense barrages and for eight hours dressed wounded in the open, and then helped them to the dressing station, and finally, when his Battery was relieved on the night of the 30th-31st, he voluntarily stayed behind to guide the new men.’

George Campbell Sanson, who was born in Victoria, British Columbia, in July 1896, enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in March 1915.

Embarked for France in March 1916, where he originally served in the 1st Canadian Pioneer Corps, he transferred to the 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade in April 1917, and won his M.M. for the above cited deeds at Passchendaele that October. He was, however, wounded by a gunshot in the left arm in late March 1918, and still bore a scar from the wound when discharged back in Vancouver in March 1919.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s Canadian Active Service Pay Book, Presentation Scroll from the Mayor and Citizens of Victoria, dated 7 March 1919, Canadian Machine Gun Corps service certificate, dated 29 March 1918, together with a wartime portrait photograph and copied service record.