WW1 & WW2 Family Medals to Harris London Irish & RAF.

An interesting family group of medals the first id a WW1 British war and victory medal correctly named to 595930 Private Frank Harold Harris of the 18th Battalion City of London Regiment, the London Irish.
The second is a WW2 Defence and 1945 war medal in named box of issue awarded to 77546 Pilot Officer Frank Thomas Harris RAFVR.
Frank Harold Harris was born in Lancashire around 1884. His father Thomas born in London 1866 was a Taylor and Cutter, obviously living in the heart of the British cloth industry for his trade.
When war broke out in August 1914 Frank has his own Green Grocers shop at 42 Jephson Road Forest Gate, East London and was married to Issabella with three children. So it wasn’t until June 1917, that Frank was drafted into the army, the 18th London’s and after a very brief period of training he arrived on the western front on 20th September 1917, joining the rest of the battalion near Ypres before moving on to the Arras area, part 141st Brigade in 47th (2nd London) Division.
Here he went into the front line and experienced heavy shelling, the battalion western moved to the line on the edge of Bourlon Wood.
The situation on the Wood was thoroughly uncomfortable and all night the enemy bombarded the positions of 141st Brigade without intermission using a considerable amount of gas shell. Very heavy casualties were sustained and the thick undergrowth in the wood held the gas and necessitated the troops wearing their masks for long periods.
At 10am on 29th November, GOC 47th Division took command of the front line and at this time seven Battalions, including two battalions of dismounted cavalry, 47 machine guns and one Battalion of 59th Division, were in Bourlon Wood.
Heavy shelling, which had continued during the night became intense at 6.35am on 29th November the line was bombarded by gas, heavy and light high velocity shells and hostile aircraft flew low over the Wood observing the effect of the shelling and the position of the British troops.
After a night much disturbed by shelling, the enemy, at 3am on 30th November, opened a fierce bombardment along the whole front from west of Moeuvres to Fontaine-Notre Dame including Graincourt. Enemy infantry began to move towards the line, the whole of this line was subjected to heavy German attacks, one Company of 19th Battalion was moved up to reinforce the London Irish who after attack after attack had suffered heavy losses during the day’s fighting.
The next morning, the defenders of the wood endured a gruelling day. They were ceaselessly bombarded by high explosives, which brought trees crashing about their ears, shelled with gas, which saturated the Wood with a loathsome, heavy vapour and clung to the dense undergrowth, filled the hollows and which even a strong wind failed to disperse. Digging to improve the few trenches and pits when wearing respirators was a almost impossible task and as exhausted men momentarily removed their masks, either in the hope of easier breathing or to take a drink from their water bottles and became casualties from the concentration of gas. Frank was one of these unfortunate men.
Stretcher bearers and aid post staff were hard pushed to deal with the enormous number of gassed men. The Battalion aid post at the Chalet became crowded with casualties and the difficulty of evacuating the gassed and wounded became a great strain.
The enemy’s gas caused the men to suffer from hoarseness, acute irritation of the mucous membrane, vomiting and blindness. Only the most severe cases could be treated as lying cases and in view of the rapidity with which blindness ensued, the men were sent down as far as possible as walking cases by the route overland from Bourlon Wood, across open country east of Annuex to the main dressing station at Flesquieres. Scores of men blinded by gas were marshalled in groups and sent off in Indian file, led by a stretcher bearer or a lightly wounded man, each man holding on to the tunic of the man preceding him. The landscape between the Wood and Flesquieres was thick with such tragic processions.
Frank did not reach the hospital at Etaples until the 2nd of December suffering from Gas Poisoning and Blindness. The pain must have been imaginable. Frank was evacuated to Britain on the 6th December and for Frank, his part in the war was over. He was put on light duties at the London Depot at Chiselden and he was demobbed in the March of 1919. It is hard to comprehend today, what such a wound would have affected Frank’s future life and work. In many ways Frank was very lucky as he had his own business, which he returned to after the war. Frank sadly died on 19th December 1962.
One of Franks, three sons, Frank Thomas Harris, born in Forst Gate 1906. Before the war he was employed as a Signwriters assistant. When the 2nd world war broke out, he enlisted into the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Through his time with the RAF he rose to the post of Pilot Officer, an Armament Officer attached to the Technical Branch. He would have been responsible for the maintenance, repair, and loading of all aircraft weaponry and explosive ordnance, including bombs, machine guns, cannons, and associated systems. Frank Jnr appears on lots of RAF service rolls; there is no mention to which Squadron he was attached and he probably never left the UK although the role of Armament Officer was critical to maintaining the operational efficiency and readiness of RAF squadrons, he was just awarded the WW2 pair. Both WW2 medals are in near mint condition and look as if they have never been out of the box of issue.

Code: 31053