British War Medal 1914-20 : Lance Corporal C Grimson, 1 Light Horse Regiment, AIF

British War Medal 1914-20. Impressed around edge with recipient's details.

Born to Edmund and Mary Ann Grimson at Yullundry via Cumnock near Molong NSW in 1876, Charles Grimson first served as a Corporal with the 3rd NSW Mounted Rifles during the Boer War. Soon after arriving back in Australia, Charles married Ethel Portia Robinson and took up farming in the Hornsby district. On 8 September 1914, barely 5 weeks after England entered the war in Europe, Grimson enlisted in the AIF (service number 582). He was assigned to the 1st Light Horse Regiment (1LHR), which formed part of the 1st Light Horse Brigade, the first mounted formation dedicated to the war effort by Australia in the First World War. On 20 October 1914, the regiment embarked on HMAT A16 Star of Victoria, bound for the Middle East. In January 1915 Grimson was promoted to the rank of lance corporal. Initially, horse mounted units were considered unsuitable for the Gallipoli campaign, however, it was decided to deploy the Light Horse on the Peninsula without horses to reinforce the infantry. 1LHR left Alexandria on 9 May 1915 and landed on Gallipoli on the 12th. Grimson was awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for his actions at Quinn's Post near Gape Tepe on the night of 28 & 29 May. He was one of only two soldiers of 1LHR to be awarded the DCM. On 15 June 1915 Grimson was wounded in the foot and evacuated off Gallipoli. In November 1915, after hospitalisation in Egypt, he was returned to Australia and medically discharged. Charles Grimson died on 20 October 1938, aged 62. His brother, Frederick Daniel Grimson, died of illness while serving in France in April 1917.