Magazine - NWRFCA - Northwest Reserve Forces & Cadets ...

People & Places
Missing medal found by chance
in Afghanistan
Calling all
Military Veterans
Stan Bates (left) reunites Mick France with his missing medal.
An ex-soldier from Blackburn
who lost a service medal 13 years
ago has had it returned after it
was found on sale in an Afghan
marketplace.
Mick France, a former Lance
Corporal with the Queen’s
Lancashire Regiment, which
is now part of the Duke of
Lancaster’s Regiment, was
reunited with his honour after
being contacted via Facebook.
He was presented with his
Northern Ireland service medal
for a second time during a
ceremony at the Regiment’s
Headquarters at Fulwood Barracks
in Preston.
The medal was unearthed by
Stan Bates, a Superintendent with
West Yorkshire Police who has
been working as a civilian adviser
to the police in Afghanistan. He
said: “I regularly trawl the local
bazaars in Kabul where India
General Service Medals are not
uncommon and, while doing
so, one of my contacts showed
me this medal. It was engraved
with Mick’s name and unit and
obviously had a story to tell. So,
having bartered the price down,
I purchased it and contacted the
Duke of Lancaster’s Regimental
Museum.”
The Regiment set about
tracking Mick down via its
network of ex-soldiers and
by using Facebook. Mick, 39,
explained how he heard his medal
had been found: “My girlfriend
rang me, she had opened an
account on Facebook that I never
check. She said that my Platoon
Sergeant in Berlin had contacted
me and wanted me to call him.
I obliged as he always had
something stupid to say to me
because he comes from Burnley
and I’m from Blackburn!
“After speaking to him I was
amazed that my medal had been
found in a bazaar in Afghanistan -
a place that I never went with my
regiment.”
Jeff Ashton, Area Secretary for
The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment,
said: “It’s been a pleasure to help
get the medal back to its rightful
owner. We’ve an impressive
collection of our own here at the
museum but it’s always nice to see
medals being worn with pride by
the recipient, and Mick assures
me he’ll be keeping a close eye on
it from now on!”
But how the medal came to be
in Kabul still remains a mystery,
Mick, who served between 1990
and 1999, said: “I have been to
Northern Ireland and Bosnia, but
how it turned up in Afghanistan
I will never know. I’m so grateful
and proud; it’s absolutely fantastic
to get it back. I probably last saw
it in Berlin and can only assume
that someone borrowed it to wear
and never returned it. I’ve had to
apologise to my mum - all my old
kit is stored at her house and for
years I’ve accused her of losing my
medal!”
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www.nwrfca.org.uk THE VOLUNTEER 7