I follow my first post concerning my Brit Assault Vest, which turns-out to be almost certainly a reproduction, with another piece that may be good. Or may be bad. Whatever it is, it’s unusual and that’s why I purchased it about 15 years ago.

As you can see from the photos, it’s a rather crudely made composition board plaque, faced with black leather with three items affixed:

1. A small photo of what appears to be a WWI Canadian soldier.
2. A brass WWI “Memorial Plaque” named to “JOHN WILLIAM KEDDY”.
3. A Fairbairn-Sykes type fighting knife .

When I was growing-up the children’s television show, Sesame Street, drilled various songs into my head and when I found this plaque one song immediately jumped to mind:

The price for this strange conglomeration was about $100. I purchased it realizing that the WWI era photo and (presumably) the Memorial Plaque for the pictured soldier could have no direct link to the WWII era fighting knife. I also realized that I was unlikely to ever learn the story behind the strange pairing. I assumed at the time of purchase, and I have little reason to think differently now, that someone, perhaps a decedent of J.W. Keddy, wanted to honor the fallen soldier and used the F-S knife not because of any linkage, but rather because it was a cool looking military artifact that apparently was available and on hand.

I recently came across this plaque while searching for something else, and decided to do a little online searching that was not available to me when I purchased it. Within a couple of minutes Googling, I learned about (Royal Canadian Regiment) Private Keddy’s birth (September 23, 1897) and death (August 22, 1917) and his burial at the Vimy Memorial (Pas de Calais, France). I’m sure with a little more investigation, other details will surface. (As a side note, isn’t the internet a marvelous tool for the militaria collector? It’s just amazing what can be found with virtually no effort.)

I also decided to remove the fighting knife while I had the plaque in hand. Luckily, the brass tacks popped right out with no damage to the leather. I was pleased to discover that the knife blade was in very nice condition after having been encased in the cheap, homemade leather cocoon for who knows how many years. The only markings I could find appeared on the backside of the crossguard: “Imperial Gudedge Cutlery Co." A Google search found a few auction sales and a couple of forum posts, including one here at “War Relics”, but I didn’t learn very much. It may be a late WWII piece or it might have been manufactured as late as the Falklands War.