The medal

Benny Gallagher’s house is on the edge of Glenveagh National Park and just a quarter of a mile from the birthplace of St Colmcille. Last year, while he was digging in his garden, he found a medal, which he sent into our school for identification. We cleaned it using Coke, and inscribed on the back was ‘P. Hynes, 4084, Leinster Regiment’. It turned out to be a First World War 1915 Star, given to all soldiers who had fought in that year. The medal belonged to a Philip Hynes from Tipperary. So how did the medal end up in a garden in Donegal? We started to piece the story together.