2nd Lt. Moir WWI Medal Group

Item Description

2nd Lieutenant Alexander Edwards Moir, M.M., RAF, officers' medals to include 1914-15 star, the Victory medal, 1914-1918 medal and Bravery in the Field medal, accompanied by copies of squadron record books and research paperwork.

There were around seventy military medal lots up for auction on 1st October in our monthly Antiques and Interiors sale. This group of WWI medals achieved over double the estimate at auction.

Who Was 2nd Lieutenant Moir? 

2nd Lieutenant A.E. Moir, M.M., formerly 1416 Sargent A.E. Moir of the 23rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers, was born at Broughty Ferry, Angus, in 1893. As a trainee lawyer in Dundee, he enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers in January 1915. He arrived in France on 16th November 1915, where the fusiliers saw action at Festubert and Loos. In July 1916, the battalion saw fierce action in the Battle of the Somme, notably in Devil's Wood, where the battalion suffered 288 casualties. The 23rd were later moved to Arras and were heavily involved in bitter fighting during the attacks on the Oppy-Fresnoy Line on 3/4 May 1917.

It was for his gallantry in maintaining communications by repairing telephone lines under heavy enemy machine gun and artillery fire during this action that the then Acting Sgt Moir was awarded his Military Medal. Moir applied for a commission in the Royal Flying Corps on 25th October 1917, and after successful pilot training, he was posted to No. 65 Fighter Squadron, serving in France. His time at the squadron was cut short, and after only 13 sorties in late 1918, he was killed in action on 26 October 1918, just 16 days before the armistice. His aircraft was shot down in flames near Essenghem by Oberleutnant zur See Gotthard Sachsenberg, the Commanding Officer of Marine Jagdgruppe I, Flanders.

He was initially buried as an unidentified RFC airman but was later exhumed in 1920 and identified by the presence of his Cox & Co cheque book found in the pocket of his tunic. He was then finally reburied and laid to rest at Anvaing Churchyard, Belgium.

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