A WAR-HERO'S widow had a wish come true this week when her husband's bravery medal, stolen a year ago, was returned, with help from the Citizen.

The late Sgt Roy Fell's British Empire Medal was snatched by burglars, and his wife, Vera, thought she would never see it again.

But eagle-eyed WW2 veteran Tom Butcher, 91, spotted the medal in a pawnshop and then tracked down Mrs Fell via our pages to return it to her. The handover took place at Mrs Fell's Burnley home on Tuesday. An emotional Mrs Fell thanked Mr Butcher, saying: "The burglars took £3,000 worth of property, but I only ever wished for the return of this medal. I am extremely grateful."

The medal was awarded to Sgt Fell, who served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, in the King's birthday honours of 1947. Sgt Fell, who served in India and Japan, died in 1995. After the war he worked for mental health and was a well known local Rotarian. He would have been 81 last Saturday.

The medal turned up in Manchester, where it was on sale for £10. Tom bought it and he and his niece, Maureen Shiels, appealed in the pages of the Citizen for information on Sgt Fell's family.

"I received a telephone call about the story during Armistice weekend," said Mrs Fell, who lives near Heasandford, Burnley.

"Thanks to these dear people, this is a happy ending to what has been a catastrophic event for me."

Mr Butcher, a soldier for 38 years, said: "It gives me great pleasure to be able to return this medal."

And Mrs Shiels said: "After the story was in the paper we had several calls from people who knew Roy - people he worked with, Rotarians, neighbours and others."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.