What’s the cost of bravery?
Published 23 April, 2008, 05:04
A medal on the chest of a veteran is an honour and a memory of great deeds. But the value of war medals is now being judged in pounds by a popular website. Awards from the World War II and Iraq campaign are among the favourites.
Online auction house Ebay is the most popular place for buying and selling medals.
As a result internet dealers flag up if the medals were given to the soldiers who did not survive the war.
So, the Victory medal – instituted by King George V in 1919 to mark the end of the First World War and given to every serving soldier – is one of the most common medals and has become one of the cheapest to buy, whereas awards to soldiers returning from duty in Iraq can reach around $US 600.
“We find it a little frustrating that we’re breaking our back to get these medals out and three years ago we had an enormous backlog, of all medal groups, we’ve resolved all of that, but just getting the 113,000 Iraq medals out and then you suddenly find them popping up on ebay is a little bit disappointing,” Peter Lockyear, retired Lt Col, Head of Britain’s MOD Medal Office, said.
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