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Auction: 25113 - Orders, Decorations and Medals - e-Auction
Lot: 605

An impressive 'Lagnicourt 1917' M.M. awarded to Private A. E. Stone, 27th Battalion, Australian Infantry, who was three times wounded in action during the war, his final injuries on the Second Day of the Battle of Amiens 1918 proving fatal

Military Medal, G.V.R. (195 Pte. A. Stone. 27/Aust:Inf:), good very fine

Note one of 69 M.M.s to the Battalion.

M.M. London Gazette 26 May 1917.

Alfred Edmond Stone was born at Naringal, Victoria, the son of Hannah Stone, Maryborough, Central Goldfields, Victoria. Attesting with the 27th Battalion on 2 February 1915 he embarked at Alexandria for Gallipoli on 4 September 1915. He served there until the unit was withdrawn to Mudros in December, later being posted to Alexandria on 10 January 1916.

They were not in Alexandria long however as the Battalion soon joined the B.E.F., disembarking at Marseilles on 21 March. They entered the front line in April and saw their first action at the Battle of Pozieres during the Somme Offensive, it was on the penultimate day of the fighting that Stone was wounded for the first time. His service papers note a gunshot wound to the thigh which saw him taken in turn to No.44 Casualty Clearing Station, No. 4 General Hospital and aboard the Hospital ship Brighton for England.

Rejoining the Battalion in February 1917 Stone was present with them on 26 March when they went into action at Lagnicourt. They were part of the counter attack which drove off the German forces which had seized the village, an action which saw Stone suffer a gunshot wound to the face. This was the only major action undertaken by the unit in the two moths that Stone was out of hospital and as such is likely the action that saw him awarded the Military Medal.

Recovering at the 5th General Hospital in Rouen, Stone was sent to a Convalescent Depot, before returning to Hospital, this time No. 26 General Hospital doubtless for further treatment. He eventually returned to his unit in June 1917 and was still with them the following year when they went into action at the Battle of Amiens, the opening move of the Hundred Days Offensive.

Stone was seriously wounded on the Second Day of the action with a shrapnel wound to the chest. Taken to No. 20 Casualty Clearing Station he died there the next day on 10 August 1918, he is buried at Vignacourt British Cemetery; sold together with copied research.

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Estimate

Starting price
£280