Synopses & Reviews
IF any excuse mere needed for penning this, it is to be found in the exceeding interest which was taken in my monograph Badges of the Brave. Indeed, many readers have requested me to deal, at greater length, with a subject which not only opens up a great historical vista and awakens national sentiment, but, incidentaIIy, serves an educational mission to those who collect and those who sell the metallic records of many a hard-fought field, which, when collated, form an imperishable record of our island story. The War Medal is a comparatively modern institu tion, otherwise we might have learned the names of the common folk who fought so tenaciously in the old wars, as, for instance, the Welsh infantry and Irish soldiers who, with the English bowmen, comprised the army of 30,000 h i c h a t GrQy routed an army of 120,000 the followers of the Black Prince who cap tured the impetuous King John at Poitiers, or the English archers whose deadly volleys made such havoc at Agincourt, on that hteful day in October nearly five hundred years ago the brave seamen who, under Lord Howard, Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, fought the InvhcibIe Armada and those who, under Waleigh, vigorously pursued the Spaniards on the high seas. We might have learned something of the men who composed the Royal Scots and the 18th RoyaI Irish, and heIped to vindicate the reputation of the British soldier at Narnur, and covered themeeIves with glory at Blenheirn the galIant Coldstream Guards who did such excellent service under Marlborough at Oudenarde and Malplaquet, as well as the Gloucesters and Worcestera who fought so well at Ramillies, or the Royal Welsh Fusiliers who served under George I1 at Dettingen. When, however, war medals were designed for distribution among successful combatants, a means of decorating surviving soldiers and sailors was established, and at the same time a sentimental and substantial record of a mans labours for his country upon the field of battle...
Synopsis
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.