Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War M.M. group of four awarded to Acting Serjeant W. N. M. Johnston, 2nd Battalion Canadian Infantry, three times wounded in action

Military Medal, G.V.R. (81456 Pte., 2/Ca. Inf. Bn.); 1914-15 Star (81456 Pte., 2/Can. Inf) service number renamed; British War and Victory Medals (81456 A. Sjt., 2-Can. Inf.) mounted as worn, good very fine (4) £500-600

M.M. London Gazette 23 August 1916.

Recommendation reads: ‘During the action in the Ypres Salient on the 13th-14th June 1916, Pte. Johnston carried several important despatches under heavy shell fire. On one occasion he was sent with Pte. Bond to deliver an important despatch. Whilst going over a heavily shelled area Pte. Bond was fatally hit by a shell. Pte. Johnston without delay took off the message from the dying man and delivered it safely.’

Walter Nelson Moore Johnston was born in Springfield, Manitoba on 10 October 1889. A Clerk by occupation and a member of the 34th Fort Garry Horse, he attested for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force at Winnipeg on 24 December 1914. He was in France with the 2nd Battalion in May 1915. Johnston was slightly wounded in the right foot, 2 May 1916 and left arm, 6 May 1916. As a despatch runner he won the Military Medal for his services on the Ypres Salient on 13/14 June 1916. On 2 September 1916 he was wounded in action (slight wound to the back) on the Pozieres Ridge. Recovering he was able to rejoin his unit. On 1 November 1918 he was appointed an Acting Serjeant. In March 1919 he returned to England and thence to Canada in April. He was discharged from the 32nd Canadian Battalion on 23 April 1919.

With copied service papers and other research.