Royal Observer Corps Medal to Observer C.N Saunders.

[timjonheath@gmail.com]

This is the Royal Observer Corps medal awarded to Observer Cyril Norman Saunders for his 12 years unbroken service with the ROC. In WW2 the ROC came under the control of Fighter Command and for its valued work during the Battle of Britain was given the Royal title by the King. After WW2 its role changed, with the onset of the Cold War with the USSR its primary role became that of watch and monitoring in underground bunkers based all over the UK. If ever a Nuclear attack came these men would have had to observe and monitor the blast, damage and fallout and report to the High Command. Their chances of survival had this occurred would have been limited and although they would have been able to report the data the radiation would have eventually seeped into their underground bunkers via the unprotected air ducts with the inevitable consequences. The beauty with this medal is that it came with its box, and the award letter with section of ribbon sent with the document. We could see it was awarded to a local man to our town of Evesham and we began researching. We looked on the local electoral register for the address given and found that Cyril had a son named Martin who was still living with him at the address on the award letter. After using Social Media for the first time ever in one of our researches we tracked Martin Saunders down and set up a meeting with him to learn more about the medal and why it came to be sold. Martin explained that he didn't want to part with the medal but had no choice as at the time (two years previous) he fell ill and needed every bit of money he could scrape together which meant he had to sell his father medal. Martin explained he was given £70 for the medal which really caused us concern as he was given well below the book price which is around £200-£250. Had it not been that we had paid a lot of money I would have handed the medal back to him. He was happy that it had gone to a good home which was some small consolation and one wonders how many other medals have come onto the market in this same way. I think the ROC medal which is awarded for Long Service is certainly one of the most attractive and a clasp was awarded for 24 years unbroken service so not an easy one to earn. The ROC has since the mid to late 1990's been stood down (not disbanded) and could be re-activated should the need arise again and the medal would again be awarded within the normal criteria.

Edited March 30, 2016 by timjonheath@gmail.com

[timjonheath@gmail.com]

[timjonheath@gmail.com]

2 minutes ago, timjonheath@gmail.com said:

This is the Royal Observer Corps medal awarded to Observer Cyril Norman Saunders for his 12 years unbroken service with the ROC. In WW2 the ROC came under the control of Fighter Command and for its valued work during the Battle of Britain was given the Royal title by the King. After WW2 its role changed, with the onset of the Cold War with the USSR its primary role became that of watch and monitoring in underground bunkers based all over the UK. If ever a Nuclear attack came these men would have had to observe and monitor the blast, damage and fallout and report to the High Command. Their chances of survival had this occurred would have been limited and although they would have been able to report the data the radiation would have eventually seeped into their underground bunkers via the unprotected air ducts with the inevitable consequences. The beauty with this medal is that it came with its box, and the award letter with section of ribbon sent with the document. We could see it was awarded to a local man to our town of Evesham and we began researching. We looked on the local electoral register for the address given and found that Cyril had a son named Martin who was still living with him at the address on the award letter. After using Social Media for the first time ever in one of our researches we tracked Martin Saunders down and set up a meeting with him to learn more about the medal and why it came to be sold. Martin explained that he didn't want to part with the medal but had no choice as at the time (two years previous) he fell ill and needed every bit of money he could scrape together which meant he had to sell his father medal. Martin explained he was given £70 for the medal which really caused us concern as he was given well below the book price which is around £200-£250. Had it not been that we had paid a lot of money I would have handed the medal back to him. He was happy that it had gone to a good home which was some small consolation and one wonders how many other medals have come onto the market in this same way. I think the ROC medal which is awarded for Long Service is certainly one of the most attractive and a clasp was awarded for 24 years unbroken service so not an easy one to earn. The ROC has since the mid to late 1990's been stood down (not disbanded) and could be re-activated should the need arise again and the medal would again be awarded within the normal criteria.

Cyril Norman Saunders of Evesham, Worcestershire pictured here with his wife. Sadly Cyril's wife died quite young and his son Martin said that his father never wanted to marry again.

[timjonheath@gmail.com]

This is a photo of Cyrils son Martin Saunders taken during me and Paula's meeting with him in 2015.

[Davejb]

Those small bunkers were scattered all over England, mainly in small remote areas but advantageous positions, theres one about 12 miles from me in between Hertford and Hatfield. I certainly did,nt envy any person who was assigned to one of them, it was a one way trip if the worst happened, at one time we had to check this one to make sure that no-one had broken in, and literally everytime we went there someone had superglued the heavy padlock on the hatch, I,m not even sure if its still there. It was certainly a reminder to the small amount of villagers who lived there