MEDAL, COMMEMORATIVE

Description: MEDAL "BRITISH COLUMBIA CENTENNIAL '71 PIONEER". REVERSE. BLUE & GOLD RIBBON. OBVERSE "PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA CANADA" & COAT OF ARMS. C/W PLASTIC CASE.

History: *UPDATE* IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED A SURVERY OF MILITARY OBJECTS. ACCORDING TO HIS OBITUARY IN THE SEPTEMBER 17, 1983 ISSUE OF THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD AND ATTESTATION PAPERS, THE DONOR'S HUSBAND AND ORIGINAL RECIPIENT OF THIS MEDAL, THOMAS JAMES MARTIN RATTRAY, WAS BORN ON SEPTEMBER 7, 1896 IN PIPESTONE, MANITOBA, AND MOVED WITH HIS PARENTS TO A FARM IN KILLAM, ALBERTA IN 1906. RATTRAY ENLISTED ON APRIL 3, 1916 AND SERVED WITH THE 10TH BATTALION BEFORE BEING BADLY WOUNDED AT PASSCHENDAELE ON NOVEMBER 11, 1917. HE SPENT TEN MONTHS IN THE HOSPITAL IN ENGLAND AND RETURNED TO KILLAM IN 1918. RATTRAY SPENT SEVERAL YEARS IN ALASKA, YUKON, AND THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, THEN RETURNED TO EDMONTON AND WORKED FOR THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE. IN 1939 HE TOOK A LEAVE OF ABSENCE TO JOIN THE EDMONTON REGIMENT, SERVING SIX YEARS AS QUARTERMASTER AT CURRIE BARRACKS IN CALGARY. AT WAR'S END HE RESUMED HIS WORK FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, WORKING IN WETASKIWIN FOR 18 YEARS. RATTRAY MARRIED DOROTHY MCINTYRE ON JUNE 3, 1947, AND THEY RETIRED TO VICTORIA, B.C. IN 1962, MOVING TO LETHBRIDGE IN 1972. RATTRAY WAS AN HONOUR GUARD FOR KING GEORGE V, EDWARD VII, GEORGE VI, AND QUEEN ELIZABETH II, A MEMBER OF THE CANADIAN LEGION FOR OVER 60 YEARS, AND AN HONOURARY MEMBER OF THE MASONIC LODGE IN PENTICTON, B.C. FOR HARDCOPIES OF THOMAS AND DOROTHY RATTRAY'S OBITUARIES AND THOMAS' ATTESTATION PAPERS, SEE PERMANENT FILE.