I have written a few posts about my great uncle, Lawrence Nimmo Dean, who was killed in action in Nijmegen, Holland, 2nd April, 1945.
Two years ago, my mother gave me his service medals from the war; six medals, all unmounted and in their original boxes. I still had not decided what to do with them when she gave me this last year. Neither of us had any idea what it was, my mother's guess was that it was to be attached to a plaque.
Recently, I found a Facebook group for Uncle Lawrence's regiment, the Perth Regiment and a couple of days ago I posted some photos and asked for help. By the end of the day, I had my answer.
This is a Birks Memorial Bar. They were produced by Canadian Jeweler, Birks, and presented to families of the fallen starting in 1941.
According to the person who helped me, they were to be sewn to the fronts of the ribbons on the service member's medals once they were court mounted. Court mounting is the process of mounting the service medals and ribbons on a sturdy background, like these medals of my grandfather's.
The gentleman who helped me on Facebook was also able to provide the name of the place where he had his own medals mounted and it happens to be conveniently located in Gatineau, Quebec, just the other side of the river from Ottawa where I have cousins. In fact, I was in Ottawa and Gatineau just last May, visiting those cousins and doing some research and hope to go back as soon as it is possible and safe.
Now that I knew the name of this bar, I did a little more digging and was able to find more information on the Veterans Affairs Canada website. There I learned that the bars can also be displayed in a shadow box or frame with the medals and any other mementos or in any way the family may deem appropriate.
Since it won't be done right away, I think I'm going to take this time to reach out to my cousins for their thoughts although I know I would like to have the medals and the bar mounted together. It's really a matter of what we do with them after that. A shadowbox sounds like a nice tribute, but light damage is a concern, even if we invested in museum quality glass. I hate the idea of keeping the medals stored in a closet forever, though.
Whatever we decide, it is nice to have the mystery solved and to know that there is no one "right" way to honor Uncle Lawrence in their display.
