Medals, bayonets stolen from military collection

Hundreds of medals, badges and bayonets have been stolen in the last year from the Military Museums in Calgary.

The lost artifacts were held in the museums' collections, but they were not on display, officials said, meaning they were not accessible to the public.

Tom Doucette, the executive director of the Military Museums, said some of the lost items have sentimental value while others are priceless.

"When you're talking about an individual medal that has the inscription of the soldier, sailor or personnel on the round part of the medal," he said.

Second World War veteran Edward Page, 90, calls it a devastating crime.

"Why they would pick on these, what good it is to them, whether it's just souvenirs or whether they figure they can make money on it, I don't really know," said Page, who visits the museum every Friday to tell stories about his experiences.

Nearly 300 artifactshave gone missing.

Police charged one person in January with possessing but not stealing some of those items.

The facility, which is locatedat 4520 Crowchild Tr. S.W., plans to post a list of the items online in the hope that collectors will have seen them and contact police, Doucette said.

"There seems to be no respect for anything any more. It's actually disgusting," said John Outshoorn, who took family to learn about military's history at the museum on Friday.

Page had a message for the thieves.

"Please return them," he said. "They're no good to you. They represent something special to us."