Sussex veteran seeks owner of war medal picked up at car boot

An RAF veteran is trying to trace the original owner of a World War One medal he picked up at a car boot sale.
Peter Stenning, 84, holding the World War One medalPeter Stenning, 84, holding the World War One medal
Peter Stenning, 84, holding the World War One medal

Peter Stenning, 84, of Ravenswood Road, Burgess Hill, has had the medal for more than 30 years but has had no luck finding its original owner.

He said: “I used to collect coins and I bought some at a car boot sale in Burgess Hill 30 to 40 years ago and it was among them. I looked at it and thought that’s not a coin!

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People don’t realise what medals mean to people. It would be lovely to reunite it with someone.”

Peter, who is disabled, said he saw a recent news article which prompted him to try and do something about the medal.

He said: “The article was about a medal being reunited with the granddaughter of a soldier. It made me want to do the same thing and I thought some family might like to have it.”

Peter has lived in Burgess Hill all of his life. He served as an RAF medic for three years which is where he met his wife Rita, who was also a medic.

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The couple met in medical training and were married for 62 years and had four children together, who are now in their 50s and 60s.

The couple also had three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Peter is a member of the Royal Air Forces Association Mid Sussex Branch. He said it keeps him ‘active’ and ‘involved in things’.

Being a committee member, he said the group always try and do things to remember the people who served in the RAF.

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He also said this year was particularly special as it is the 100th anniversary. “Sometimes I think, after all these years, did I really do that,” he added.

“This medal means a lot to me. It would be wonderful if it was reunited with someone in Burgess Hill, or somewhere in Sussex.”

Peter is also a member of the Suez Veterans Association – an association of those who served in the British Armed Forces and civilian support units in the Suez Canal Zone between 1939 and 1956 – the Suez Crisis.

The medal is a First World War Victory medal from the Royal Navy, engraved with the following ‘J68351 EG LEE. SIG BOY’.

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Anyone who has information about the medal can contact our sister paper the Mid Sussex Times at [email protected]. They will then be put in touch with Peter.