Youngest British WWI veteran's medals turn up at thrift shop in Australia

02 May 2023 , 17:55

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Sidney's son Colin Lewis (Image: ZacharyCulpin/BNPS)

Medals earned for extraordinary bravery by Britain’s youngest First World War soldier have turned up in Australia.

Sidney Lewis was 12 when he signed up, and fought in the horrific Battle of the Somme at 13 in 1916.

He famously appeared in the Daily Mirror later that year after officers in the East Surrey Regiment discovered his age and he was sent home.

Now Sidney’s son Colin has been reunited with the three medals after a kind Australian woman bought them and returned them.

Colin, 89, said: “My dad’s name was on the back of them. I have absolutely no idea how they ended up in Australia. But having them back in the family is brilliant.

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“We are very proud of Dad.”

Sidney's medals are the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the 1914-15 Star Medal (ZacharyCulpin/BNPS)

Colin from Poole, Dorset added: “I couldn’t believe it when I received the letter from Australia.

“A lady was shopping for old WWI artefacts in a shop in Western Australia when she stumbled across the medals. She bought them and then set about trying to find who they belonged to.

“She got in touch with the Imperial War Museum and then contacted me. She sent the medals back. She didn’t want any money. It was a very nice thing to do. I’ve got three children and nine grandchildren and they’ve all seen the medals.”

Daily Mirror featuring Sidney's story (Courtesy of Colin Lewis)

The medals returned to Colin are the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the 1914-15 Star Medal.

Sidney fought at the battle of Delville Wood in 1916, part of the wider Somme engagement, where 80% of Allied soldiers were either killed, wounded or went missing.

When he left the army, he married Rosemary, joined the police, and then ran a pub in Kent before retiring to Hailsham, East Sussex.

Sidney Lewis and his wife Rosemary in 1957 (BNPS)

Colin added: “My father told me more than once that he had been in the Great War. Knowing that he was born in 1903, I always thought he was making it up.

“After his death in 1969, the family went through his effects and it was only then that I realised he had been telling the truth.

“I feel guilty about not asking him really now because he really was a hero.”

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