France - Republic of: A pair of First World War awards with extensive supporting original documentation and ephemera to a member of a Kite Balloon unit, Private 2nd Class Leon Henri Gausserand, 106th Battalion of Chasseurs of Foot, later Corps of Engineers operating with the Kite Balloons. From Paris, he saw active service during 1917 to 1918, before being evacuated owing to rheumatism in October 1918. He returned to service with a support unit to a Kite Balloon Section. In May 1920 he would be awarded a Certificate of Good Conduct from the Captain and Director of the Central Warehouse for Military Aero-station Equipment.
Pair: Commemorative Medal of the Great War 1914-1918; Inter-Allied Victory Medal 1914-1919, by A. Morlon.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Together with the following:
The recipient’s original Soldier’s Service Book, the cover now missing, however the inside opening page confirms the name of the recipient, Leon Henri Gausserand, and further personal and service details.
Certificate of Good Conduct from the Captain, Director of the Central Warehouse for Military Aero-station Equipment, this awarded to Soldat de 2 Classe (Private 2nd Class) Leon Gausserand (No.582), this issued on 26 May 1920. A scarce document, this depicts images of military balloons.
Mobilisation booklet, issued in the name of Leon Henri Gausserand, this dating from 1918.
Recipient’s French Army Identify Disc, aluminium neck form, this stamped: ‘SEINE 5me. Bau. 5560’ on one side, and on the other ‘GAUSSERAND Leon 1918’, this with its leather neck cord.
Recipient’s French Army Identify Disc, steel wrist form, this stamped: ‘SEINE 5Me. Bau. 5560’ on one side, and on the other ‘GAUSSERAND Leon 1918’, this complete with its wrist chain.
French Military Hospital Train Red Casualty Tag for passage on a hospital train, as issued to Gausserand on 16 October 1918.
Certificate authorising Gausserand to be entitled to wear the Inter-Allied Victory Medal 1914-1919, this dated 1 October 1935.
Association of Former Soldiers of the 14th Arrondissement in Paris, Active Membership Card, issued in the name of Leon Gausserand, and with dates from the 1930s, together with pass photograph of the recipient, (this now loose).
National Office for War Veterans and Victims Combatant’s Card, No.118983, issued in the name of Leon Henri Gausserand, valid from September 1934 to September 1939, as issued to him in Paris on 1 September 1934. This with affixed pass photograph of the recipient.
Leon Henri Gausserand was born on 13 March 1898 in Paris in the 18th Arrondissement, and was a typographer prior to enlisting into the French Army in early 1917 towards the end of the First World War. Gausserand saw service as a Private 2nd Class with the 106th Battalion of Chasseurs of Foot, and ultimately contracted rheumatism, and was evacuated by hospital train during October 1918.
Later he returned to service as a Private 2nd Class with the French Corps of Engineers when employed with the Kite Balloons. The French had operated the Caquot Kite Balloons on observation duties during the war. Gausserand was awarded a Certificate of Good Conduct from the Captain and Director of the Central Warehouse for Military Aero-station Equipment in May 1920, with this rare certificate being maintained amongst his original paperwork. He returned to Paris, and lived in the 17th Arrondissement through the 1930s.
