Missing military badge returned after successful appeal
A Royal Artillery cap badge found on the floor following a Remembrance service has been successfully returned to its grateful owner.
David Parkes found the clip in Bilston town centre and immediately set about finding who it belonged to - with a little help from the Express & Star.
It was only after reading the article in Tuesday's paper that Peter Burns realised he had lost the badge, which had belonged to his father who served in the Second World War.
And it turned out it was old friend who had found the sentimental item.
"I recognised the name when Peter came forward and quickly realised he used to run a football club, Portobello Rangers, which I played for as a 10 year old," explained Mr Parkes.
"It is obviously a sentimental thing which has got no value money-wise, but I just thought it must have a meaning for somebody who would be desperate to have it back.
"I did not know if it was someone who young or old, or I perhaps thought it might be someone in the cadets who had lost it.
"That is why I decided to post the picture on Twitter and Facebook and then it went in the newspaper."
Each year, Mr Burns takes the badge, along with his father's service medals, to Bilston's Remembrance service inside a red wallet.
The 69-year-old said this time he was rushing to make the service and believes the clip must have fallen out of the wallet when he took the medals out.
His father, George, fought in the Eighth Army during the Second World War and served in Africa, Italy and Scilly.
He was reported missing in action but ultimately survived the war and died around 15 years ago.
Mr Burns, said: "I am so grateful it has been found. It has no real value to anyone it it just the sentimental side of it for me.
"It means a lot to me but nothing to anyone else. Someone could have put it in a draw and it would have been there forever.
"But this shows there are still some honest people in the world."
