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Auction: 24112 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 262

The sole-entitlement British War Medal awarded to Driver F. Hood, Royal Field Artillery, an American citizen who was wounded in the Halifax Explosion

British War Medal 1914-20 (253330 Dvr. F. Hood. R.A.), good very fine

Frank Hood born in 1885 and was an American who lived at 24 Arch Street, South Manchester, Connecticut, was an Efficiency Engineer before the Great War and also lived in St Johnstone when in Scotland. He enlisted at Hartford, Connecticut in October 1917 and served with the Royal Field Artillery and 593 (Home Service) Employment Company, Labour Corps. He underwent a Medical Examination at Dover in January 1919 and reported the fact he suffered wounds to the legs and eyes during the Halifax Explosion in December 1917, being treated at Dartford Hospital, Nova Scotia.

The aftershocks of the explosion are still felt in Canada today and it is no surprise: the disaster left some 1,782 dead, around 9,000 were injured, 6,000 became homeless and around 25,000 had insufficient shelter in the depths of winter. The Explosion was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in history. An extensive comparison of 130 major explosions by Halifax historian Jay White in 1994 concluded that it:

'...remains unchallenged in overall magnitude as long as five criteria are considered together: number of casualties, force of blast, radius of devastation, quantity of explosive material, and total value of property destroyed.'

For many years afterward, the Halifax Explosion was the standard by which all large blasts were measured. For instance, in its report on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Time magazine wrote that the explosive power of the Little Boy bomb was seven times that of the Halifax Explosion. Numerous books, television documentaries and films have also been produced to tell this remarkable tale.

He applied for his Medal in November 1923.

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Sold for
£40

Starting price
£20