Schoolboy reunites First World War medals with war hero's family

The medals have finally been returned Credit: BPM Media

A schoolboy from Birmingham has finally reunited First World War medals with the long-lost family of a war hero.

12-year-old Lewis Bacciochi, from Tyseley, started his search for the family after promising his late grandfather Peter that he would find the owner of the medals before his death.

The medals were:

  • the 1914-15 Star

  • the British War Medal

  • the Victory Medal

They were found by Lewis’s grandfather before his death five years ago.

Lewis' uncle, Eric Moseley, helped him with the search, but they had exhausted all leads, before turning to a local newspaper for help.

His appeal was spotted on an ancestry website, and the great-niece of Fred Cockram came forward.

Ann was delighted to receive the medals Credit: BPM Media

Ann Dickinson travelled up from Bristol to meet Lewis outside the Hall of Memory in Centenary Square in Birmingham, where he handed back the medals.

Ann explained that Fred and his elder brother Joseph – her grandfather – grew up in Bristol.

Fred Cockram Credit: BPM Media

But they were separated while both young, when their parents died in separate accidents.

Later, when Fred returned from the war, he ran a removals company and is thought to have married in later life, but had no children.