Auction Catalogue
Create new listMilitary Medal, G.V.R. (8572 Pte.-L. Cpl. J. Heaney, 2/Ir. Gds.) edge bruise and light contact marks, otherwise very fine £350-400
This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Small Collection of Medals to the Irish Guards.
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M.M. London Gazette 13 March 1918.
James Heaney, who was from Clonbalt, Longford, enlisted in the Irish Guards in May 1915, aged 18 years. Arriving in France in November of the same year, he was advanced to Acting Lance-Corporal in May 1916 and returned to the U.K. that September. Deprived of his Lance-Corporal’s stripe in the new year, Heaney returned to France with the 2nd Battalion and was awarded the M.M. for his deeds during an attack on 27 November 1917:
‘When his Company came under a heavy fire from the flank, he went out in front and getting his Lewis gun into action, succeeded in silencing the enemy’s fire, thereby allowing his Company to get forward and saving many lives. Throughout the attack his conduct was exceptionally fine under heavy fire. When the line was withdrawn he brought his Lewis gun back intact (regimental records refer).’
In the following month Heaney regained his status as Acting Lance-Corporal, but on 26 March 1918, near Arras, he was seriously wounded ‘by a high explosive shell just above the left knee’. Treated at a Casualty Clearing Station for two days, he was next evacuated to No. 2 Australian General Hospital, where an operation was carried out and the ‘wound excised’. Such was the serious nature of his wound - a lot of muscle tissue had to be removed and his knee joint became ‘almost completely fixed’ - that Heaney was still receiving hospital treatment after the War. He was awarded the Silver War Badge and was discharged in February 1919.
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