WWI - Military Medal and BWM/VM Medal Pair to 50th Canadian Infantry Battalion - Swanson

Military Medal (804422 SJT. P.H. SWANSON. 50/ALBERTA. R.), British War Medal, Victory Medal named to: (LIEUT. P.H. SWANSON)

Paul Horace Swanson was born in Morrill, Nebraska, USA. He joined the 137th (Calgary) Battalion in February, 1916. He proceeded to France in a draft to the 50th Battalion and served with them on the Western Front. He was promoted to Sergeant in May, 1918. He was awareded the Military Medal for Bravery in the Field per Corps Order 1899 (11 September 1918 - London Gazette 31173, 11 February 1919). His MM card does not have a citation, but the regimental history - Onward - reveals the circumstances of his award during the Battle of Amiens:

"Efforts to bring up supplies and evacuate the wounded on the night of August
10–11 were stymied by the near impossibility of navigating through the old
trenches and wire in the darkness. With the battalion so short of men, signaller
Charles Oke found himself manning a parapet for the first time. “Peering into
the darkness and watching the flares and star shells and the gun flashes,” he
was struck by the awful beauty of it all and pondered “the thousands who had
been doing this, night after night for years.”
Daylight brought some respite from the random shelling, but the machine-
gun fire was relentless, and that, along with the ubiquitous sniping, made
daytime movement a precarious project, too. This was a serious matter given
the men were now running very short of the staples of trench defence—rifle
ammunition, Lewis-gun magazines, and Mills bombs, not to mention iron rations
and water. As we have already seen, shortages of potable water were a
constant during the Amiens operation, and especially hard on the wounded
lying in the hot sun. The summer weather had been glorious, but the heat—
temperatures exceeded 30°C—and the long hours of daylight at basically the
same latitude as Calgary took their toll.37 Showing great initiative, Sgt. Swanson
organized a party from battalion headquarters staff and at least managed to get
sufficient ammunition forward. And it was none too soon, for while inspecting his positions that morning, Lt.-Col. Page witnessed the obliteration of Hallu,
which compelled the 78th Battalion to fall back. Drawing the obvious conclusion,
Page hurriedly readied his men to repulse a counterattack. Occupying a
miniature salient protruding well ahead of the rest of the 10th and 12th Brigade
line, their position was precarious. It wasn’t long before everyone could see
German infantry forming up in front of Hallu Wood. Flares fired requesting a
barrage in front of their position went unanswered because brigade were unsure
exactly where the 78th was and feared friendly fire casualties. The CO
scrambled from position to position, ordering his company commanders to
“contest every inch of ground” before returning to his temporary command
post some distance from their forward positions to establish contact with brigade
headquarters" 

Medals are swing mounted, as worn.