Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Warrant Officer Class 2 J. Hossack, Canadian Engineers, late Army Service Corps

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 5 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (16577 Pte. J. Hossack, A.S.C.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (166050 W.O. Cl. 2 J. Hossack, C.E.); Canadian Voluntary Service Medal 1939-45; War Medal 1939-45, silver, the third with edge bruise at 6 o’clock, otherwise generally very fine (5) £200-250

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Awards to the Canadian Forces.

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John Hossack was born at Fort Rose, Ross-shire, Scotland, on 19 March 1883, and enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force at Guelph, Ontario, in April 1915 - when he stated that he had four years previous service in the Army Service Corps (including active service in the Boer War).

Embarked for England, he went out to France with the 2nd Canadian Pioneer Battalion, Canadian Engineers, in March 1916, and quickly won a mention in despatches (London Gazette 4 January 1917 refers), but was admitted to hospital at the end of 1917 suffering from myalgia. Returning to his pioneer unit in the Field as a recently promoted Company Sergeant-Major in early 1918, he served latterly in the 6th Battalion, Canadian Engineers, and was discharged back in Canada in May 1919.

Re-enlisting in the Canadian Active Service Force in Toronto in January 1940, when he falsely declared his year of birth as 1896, he was taken on the strength of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, and remained employed on the home establishment up until his discharge in May 1945. Hossack died in Toronto in June 1961; sold with copied service papers.