Family stunned as man returns lost WW1 medal after a hundred years

It's been over a hundred years since 24-year-old A.G. Hammond was killed in the trenches of World War One. 

Fast forward to the 1980's, and nine-year-old Mark Iacovelli is digging up his back garden in Worcester. The curious kid was looking for treasure, when he struck gold, literally. 

After scrubbing the medal clean, he convinced his mum to take him to the Worcester Museum to find out about the medal. There he found out that the Medal of Freedom had been posthumously rewarded to A.G. Hammond. It had been given to his widow and somehow ended up in a field outside the city. that field was where the house that Iacovelli grew up in was built. 

The boy kept the medal in his box of treasures, and grew up. Emigrating to Toronto in 2004, he took the box with him. This year, he showed it to his three sons, who prompted him to find out more about the fallen solider. 

"It has been treasured by me for many years with my intention of one day finding the rightful owners and family who it once belonged to," Iacovelli said, speaking to local media. 

"I recall the delight when I started to clean off the dirt and realised that this was not just another old coin for my collection."

Being encouraged by his sons, Iacovelli posted on the Worcestershire Memories Facebook page.

Just days later, Hammond's great-great-granddaughter, Debbie Evans, responded to the post.

"I just got so emotional seeing the post on Facebook. Coincidentally, I have been researching my family tree and specifically, George," she said. Her family didn't know much about him, she continued to say. 

Eventually, the medal made its way home to 75-year-old Carol Griffiths, Hammond's granddaughter. It turns out that she lived just meters away from Iacovelli's old home.

"It is a one in a million find and I am thrilled to have the medal back in the family. Although I never met my grandfather having the medal which was awarded to him is wonderful," she said.