I have two sets of medals belonging to my Great Grand fathers, the first set to one who was with the Manchester Rifles, sadly I was never old enough or wise enough to ask him about his service days.
The second set belonged to my other GGF who served with the Border Regiment, then because of his background he was moved to the RE for mining under the German lines. When he returned home he had to go and recieve his medals, on returning to the house he threw them straight onto the fire where my Grand father grabbed them out with some tongs. He was told in no uncertain terms that he could keep them but they were never to see the light of day.