The Brian Kieran Collection

A Great War M.M. and Bar awarded to Corporal W. Veitch, Canadian Infantry, the former distinction for bravery at the Chalk Pit feature on the Somme in September 1917

Military Medal, G.V.R., with Second Award Bar (451322 Pte. W. Veitch, 4/Can. Inf.), contact marks and edge bruising, thus good fine £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Kieran Collection.

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M.M. London Gazette 12 December 1917. The original recommendation states:

‘For conspicuous bravery and coolness under shell fire. Private Veitch carried S.A.A. and bombs under intense barrages of artillery fire during the counter attacks which were launched against our position in the Chalk Pit. When a Sergeant was completely buried, Private Veitch under intense shell fire assisted in the digging of him out.’

Bar to M.M. London Gazette 24 January 1919.

William Veitch, who was born in Edinburgh in March 1894, enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in June 1915, and was embarked for the U.K. Posted to the 4th Canadian Infantry out in France that December, he won his first M.M. for the above cited deeds on the Somme in September 1917, the same year in which he was gassed but returned to duty (his service record refers). Then on 8 August 1918, he received multiple wounds at Amiens, wounds that necessitated his evacuation to hospital in England and thence, in May 1919, to Canada, where, following further treatment, he was discharged as medically unfit. He was awarded a Bar to his M.M.