A First World War Army Meritorious Service Group of Four Medals, awarded to M2-032754 PTE.A.(Arnold) PICKLES, A.S.C., comprising Army Meritorious Service Medal (R.A.S.C.), 1914-15 Star, British War Medal,Victory Medal, swing mounted, and Defence Medal in box of issue, together with two sets of miniatures, a hand written diary "My Recollections of Three Years as a Prisoner of War in Germany", a scrap book filled with letters, photographs, newspaper cuttings etc, and a quantity of ephemera and unpublished stories, including "The Spirit of the Hardwicks", newspapers etc.; a Nickel Plated "The Alma Belt" Clasp, of shaped square form, set with the standing figure of Britannia and a lion, the upper corners stamped with the Union Jack and the French National Flag with a star and crescent between, the lower corners stamped with field guns, the reverse embossed BATTLE OF THE ALMA/SEPT.20 1854/THE ALMA BELT

Footnote:- Arnold Pickles was born in the village of Heaton, near Bradford at the end of the 19th Century. He enlisted in the Army in January 1915 and was sent to France, then Belgium, with the Army Service Corps attached to the 3rd Canadian Field Ambulance, driving Red Cross ambulances. On the night of the 24th April 1915, Arnold was sent with another ambulance to collect some casualties from a remote dressing station in St. Julien near Ypres and unfortunately drove into enemy territory where they were fired upon. His colleagues were killed, and he was captured. He was sent to a German Prisoner of War camp where he remained until the end of the war. Whilst in the camp he was seconded to work in the operating theatre assisting a German surgeon- Dr. W. Seuling. A handwritten letter from Dr Seuling is clipped into the above scrap book.
After the war Arnold returned to life in his home village of Heaton where he worked as a car mechanic and eventually established his own company of Rossfield Motors, Heaton Road, Heaton, Bradford.
At the outbreak of the Second World War he joined the Home Guard, Northern Command and served under the honourary rank of 2nd Lieutenant.
He died just before his 97th birthday.