Heartbreak as medals are stolen

A widow today told of her heartbreak after burglars stole campaign medals awarded to her war hero husband for his daring bombing exploits during the Second World War.

Squadron Leader John Gardner carried out dozens of raids over France and Germany in the build-up to D-Day.

His medals were among a number of items, including £3,000 of jewellery and £500 cash, stolen from the family home in Wolverhampton, which was ransacked during the break-in. 

Wife Doris, aged 86, today appealed for the return of her husband’s medals, which included the Distinguished Flying Cross for his D-Day mission. 

Squadron Leader Gardner was on the first plane out, at five minutes past midnight, with the famous 35 Pathfinder Squadron and carried out a further four raids that day alone.

Doris said: “He never spoke about the war and my conscience is pricked mentioning it now, but I would dearly love those medals back. I can live without the rest of what was taken.”

The former headteacher of Glynne Primary School in Kingswinford discovered the break-in after a rare night out with her brother and sister to celebrate her sister’s 76th birthday.

“My brother saw me to the door but I couldn’t get my key in the lock,” she said. “Then I noticed the living room curtains had been closed, and I knew someone had been in. “They’d trashed every room upstairs and down. The police made a path for me to reach my bed.”

It has taken Doris several days to put right the devastation caused by the thieves on November 17. 

She has systematically gone through each room, working 12 hours a day, to put possessions back into drawers, onto shelves and scrubbing all trace of the intruders from the house.

Doris, who served for 30 years on the West Midlands Police J Division local committee, said: “It’s been upsetting but the police have been very kind.” The stolen jewellery included a diamond and sapphire bracelet and a pair of cultured pearl earrings, both presents from her husband. The couple had no children. It is the second time her husband’s personal possessions have been stolen. Shortly after his death 30 years ago, burglars stole his passport and birth certificate.

She said: “I try not to show my emotions but I felt very bitter after that happened. He’d only just died. It felt like they’d stolen his identity.” D-Day was a major turning point of the Second World War and Squadron Leader Gardner’s wartime log book and photograph are on display at RAF Stafford. Doris said: “They used to call him the cat with nine lives because the survival rate for airmen was not good. I hate to think of his medals in the wrong hands. I used to polish them. I’d hoped they would have been preserved as an inspiration to young cadets.”

Former Wing Commander Sid Little, of Bloxwich, who is including a chapter on Guernsey-born Squadron Leader Gardner in a book on Channel Island aviators, said today: “John was quite a character.

“When he came out of the airforce he was very active in setting up the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme in Wolverhampton and much involved in the air cadet movement. He was very supportive of young people.”

Despite unfavourable weather forecasts, the decision was made to attack on June 6, 1944. By nightfall, Allied troops had a firm foothold on Hitler’s “fortress Europe”.