MEDAL AWARDED TO MEMBER OF THE LITTLE KNOWN CANADIAN ‘BLACK BATTALION’ TO BE SOLD AT DIX NOONAN WEBB

A rare British War Medal (1914-20) that was awarded to a member the Canadian No. 2 Construction Battalion, which was also known as the ‘Black Battalion’ and the only Canadian battalion composed of black soldiers to serve in WW1, will be offered Mayfair-based Dix Noonan Webb in their auction of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. It is estimated at £500-700.

Oliver Pepys, Associate Director and Medal Auctioneer at Dix Noonan Webb explains: “At the start of World War 1, many Canadians were keen to enlist and support their country. Many black Canadians also wanted to be involved, however in 1914, there weren’t many black people in the Canadian military due to racial opinions, and a lot of those who attempted to enlist were rejected. After members of the black community demanded through a petition to be included, the No. 2 Construction Battaltion was formed and went on to play a crucial part, like many people of colour, in the war.”

Sapper Gordon Goines was a black volunteer (his enlistment and discharge papers confirm his complexion as ‘Colored’) who was born in Wallington, Ontario, on 13 February 1885 and attested for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force at Windsor, Ontario, on 3 January 1917. He was posted to No. 2 Construction Battalion, otherwise known as the ‘Black Battalion’, and departed Halifax, Nova Scotia, as part of a force of 19 Officers and 605 other ranks, on the S.S. Southland, that arrived in Liverpool on 7 April 1917. The following month, the status of the unit was changed from a Battalion to a Company, and Goines served with his unit during the Great War on the Western Front from 17 May 1917, as part of the Canadian Forestry Corps, and also with the Canadian Overseas Railway Construction Corps. He returned to Canada after the Armistice, was demobilised in February 1919, and died on 24 December 1956.

The rare medal will be sold along with a copied copy of his service papers and a copy of the book The Black Battalion, by Calvin W. Ruck.