Rarest duos issued?

[MelPack]

I was looking through some material on the 'absolutists' of the Non Combatant Corps who were forcibly sent to France as a preliminary to a court martial and death sentence (subsequently commuted to hard labour).

Out of curiosity I searched the MICs to see if any had been awarded the British and Victory medals. It was hardly suprising that none had.

However, I did find that the campaign medals had been awarded to two memebers of the NCC:

Pte Henry Taylor NCC 1853

Nothumberland Fusiliers 37603

" " 202216

and

Pte Frederick W Whitford NCC 3660

Royal Engineers 364149

I assume there must have been some administrative/political decision to exclude the award of campaign medals to memebers of the NCC even though many qualified under the rubric and there were at least five deaths in France and Flanders.

It is obvious that both these men must have had a change of mind to make them eligible which must be a fascinating story in its self. From purely a militaria collector's viewpoint, these must surely be the most rare duos ever issued?

regards

Mel

[MelPack]

Ps For anyone interested in the NCC and the absolutist, here are a couple of good links:

http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/cos/st_co_wwone3s2.html

http://amaxus.english-heritage.org.uk/insp...richmond_16.pdf

Regards

Mel

[Terry Denham]

In fact, of the 33 members of the Non Combatant Corps listed by CWGC, six of them died overseas - in France.

[Coldstreamer]

Hello

do you have the MIC for the two you found ?

The cards will say which unit is stamped on the medals

Ian