A FAMILY has been reunited with a military medal awarded more than a century ago to their grandfather – who they didn’t even know had been a soldier.

The World War One service medal had been among a collection owned by Peter Blenkinsopp’s family, from Hunwick in County Durham.

Most of the medals had belonged to Mr Blenkinsopp’s grandfather Anthony, who served with the military police during World War Two, so the family often wondered how the earlier medal come into their ownership.

Last year, Mr Blenkinsopp began researching the details he could make out on the side of the medal and discovered it had belonged to a John Edward Linton, of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

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Both men had lived in Railway Terrace, Hunwick, just five doors apart.

Mr Blenkinsopp discovered dad-of-four Mr Linton had lost a son called John in action in Libya during the 1939-45 conflict, whose name is on the village’s war memorial.

He managed to trace surviving members of the family who were able to confirm all the details from their family tree, but had no idea their grandfather had served in the war.

Yesterday Mr Blenkinsopp met Mr Linton’s grandchildren, Richard Linton and Susan Foulkes, and presented them with the medal.

Mr Linton, from Newton Aycliffe, said: “We didn’t know of its existence, or even that our grandfather had been involved in the war, we just knew he worked on the railways.

“He would not let our father, Norman, join up after Uncle John was killed and he’d said he wasn’t going to lose another son and pushed him towards teaching.

“It was a real surprise when I got a message from Peter via Facebook and he told us all the research he’d done.

“It is a really special thing for someone to do without wanting anything back other than bringing the medal to the family, it is a lovely gesture and really nice feeling to have his medal now.”

Mr Blenkinsopp said: “We didn’t have any idea how we came to have a World War One medal in with my grandad’s, so I started doing some research and finding more bits of the story.

“I found quite a bit of the Linton family history and am pleased I was able to trace Richard and get the medal back to JE Linton’s family.

“We had a couple of theories about why the medal came to our family we still don’t really know.

“I think my grandad, who was the only soldier living in the same part of the village, was given the medal by Mr Linton, possibly not wanting to talk about the war and after losing a son.”

During his research, Mr Blenkinsopp spoke to a current occupant of Railway Terrace who said some years ago a lady called Freda had stopped to chat.

She said she used to live there and gave him a photograph of herself and her father – JE Linton - which is now displayed in a local pub.

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