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Search for medals lost in Thames Search for medals lost in Thames
(about 9 hours later)
A veteran of the Dunkirk evacuation is hoping a team of scuba divers can help reunite him with his war medals after they fell into the river Thames.A veteran of the Dunkirk evacuation is hoping a team of scuba divers can help reunite him with his war medals after they fell into the river Thames.
Charles Brown, 93, lost the medals on Sunday as he boarded a boat during the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships cruise from Kingston to Weybridge. Charles Brown, 93, lost the medals last Sunday as he boarded a boat during the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships cruise from Kingston to Weybridge.
The two rows of medals fell into a shallow stretch of water but a rescue attempt with magnets was unsuccessful. The two rows of medals, including an OBE, fell into a shallow water.
Divers from Teddington Lifeboat Station will scour the riverbed on Saturday. Divers from Teddington Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) began their search for the medals on Saturday.
Mr Brown lost the medals from the breast pocket of his jacket as he used his walking frame to board a boat near Kingston Bridge. He was said to be distraught by the loss. I really hope they find my medals because one of them is an OBE and they only give one of those out Charles Brown
Scuba divers began their fingertip search near Kingston Bridge about 1100 BST.
Mr Brown lost the medals from the breast pocket of his jacket as he used his walking frame to board a boat near Kingston Bridge.
Earlier attempts to recover the medals with magnets, which fell in a shallow stretch of water, proved unsuccessful.
Mr Brown said: "I really hope they find my medals because one of them is an OBE and they only give one of those out - there's no second medal if I lose it."
Malcolm Miatt, operations manager at Teddington RNLI, said: "When we heard about what happened to the old chap we said we would help out. It's not typical RNLI work but we had an operation in the area anyway.
"The heavy rains recently have turned up a lot of silt so visibility is awful.
"It's going to be a fingertip search on a grid pattern but it's a real needle in a haystack."