The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 17, April 25, 2004, Article 10

1917 VICTORIA CROSS MEDAL SEIZED BEFORE AUCTION

  On April 6, The Toronto Star reported that the Royal Canadian
  Mounted Police seized a rare medal believed to have been
  stolen from a museum in 1973.  The medal had been awarded
  to Cpl. Filip Konowal, a Ukrainian immigrant to Canada.

  "RCMP officers have seized a rare Canadian-won Victoria
  Cross from a London auction house that was preparing it for
  sale."

  "Konowal, then 30, was one of 10,000 Ukrainian-born
  immigrants who enlisted in the Canadian forces to fight in World
  War I. War records show that in August,  1917, at Hill 70 in
  France, he single-handedly took out three gun positions and
  killed 16 German soldiers.

  Konowal's medal was pinned on him by King George V, as
  he lay in an English army hospital "after half his face was shot
  away by a German sniper" the day after his  heroic exploit,
  Luciuk said.

  Luciuk said the war hero left the medal to his widow "who fell
  on hard times and sold it to a collector," who in turn sold it to
  the war museum for $3,750."

  [For the full story, see:  Full Story

   For biographical information on Konowal, see: Biographical Info

  The medal has been in the news before.  This article from
  1999 states that the medal had been lost for years and
  was replaced with a replica. Replica Article ]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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