Lot 3640
Sale 122 · Important Australian, British, World, and Ancient Coins, Banknotes, and Medals
Description
British War Medal 1914-18 to KIA. 422 Cpl. G.R.Heathcote. 24-M.G.Coy. A.I.F. Impressed. Dark toned, extremely fine.
Gordon Roy Heathcote, optician, age 23, born at Kew, Vic; Enl.28Aug1916 at Melbourne, Vic while still serving in Citizen Forces (3 years); Emb.20Oct1916; to 4th Div MG Coy 13Feb1917; to 9 Trg Bn 20May1917; re-joined 4th Div MG Coy 25May1917; to France with 24 MG Coy 07Sep1917; KIA 16Oct1917, at Zonnebeke, Belgium; commemorated at the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.
The Australian Red Cross enquired into the circumstances of Gordon Heathcote's death and obtained several witness statements. All state that he was killed when a German shell burst on the dug-out he was in and he was killed almost instantaneously when a piece of shrapnel hit him in the head, as one statement said, 'had his head nearly blown off'. Gordon's older brother, 2192 Claude Charles Heathcote, also served, enlisting on 16 February 1916 in 51 Battalion.
With research.
- Estimate
- $150
- Result Status
- Passed in