The uniform belonged to 2nd Lieutenant Thomas William Deeves MC, who served in the 16th (Public School) Battalion, the Middlesex Regiment. Deeves received the Military Cross with bar for his gallantry on two separate occasions on the 20th and 30th of November 1917. On the 30th he was so badly injured by airplane machine gun fire that he was left for dead in a farmhouse; two days later, as he was taken away to be buried, someone checked his pulse and found he was still alive. After several days on a No Hope Ward in a military hospital, doctors began to treat him. Two and a half years later, after over 30 operations, he requested to have his left arm amputated. The red triangles on his uniform sleeves are wound stripes, showing that he had previously been injured.
Walter would have worn a similar jacket as he was on active service in the 17th and 23rd Middlesex Regiments. He took part in a football tournament between the Sportsmen’s and Public Schools’ Battalions whilst training in July 1915.
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