Delight as Shropshire man finds war medal after 80-years

"He thought it had fallen down the back of the sink or something," said his son, Harold.

"But me and my brother used to play with them so we probably took it out to the garden and lost it."

And the medal remained lost for nearly 80 years, lying in the garden of the family cottage on Mardu Lane, just north of Clun.

So imagine Harold's surprise when his father's medal was returned to him this week, looking almost as good as new.

Gabrielle Wright unearthed it shortly after her parents, Philip and Avril, moved into the cottage where Harold was born.

Mr Wright, 60, who runs a building and monument restoration business, said: "We only just moved to the area four or five weeks ago. Our daughter Gabrielle has a metal detector and she decided, rather than help us with the unpacking, to go around the garden with it.

"We thought it was a half crown – it's silver with King George V on the front – but it's a World War One service medal."

He said they put the word out locally, and almost immediately got a response from Harold.

"We were quite amazed – first that my daughter found this medal and secondly that we found the owner so quickly."

Miss Wright, 24, is a football development officer for the FA who lives in Cheshire. She has a keen interest in treasure hunting, and has unearthed Roman coins and medieval artefacts before.

She said:

"To find something like this and be able to give it back to Harold is really quite special, and in the centenary year as well, it's fantastic."

Mr Morgan, an 86-year-old retired lumberjack who now lives in Leintwardine, said his father was a bombardier in the Royal Artillery. He died aged 78 in 1972.

"He had three medals and this was one of them," he said. "I was born at that cottage and we left there in 1936, so it has been missing 78 years at least.

"I think there are a lot of people who will want to see it, and I have a big family so I will be showing it around."