Canada, Commonwealth. An RCMP & Second War Group to Corporal Thomas Richard "Dick" Bell

Canadian Volunteer Service Medal; War Medal 1939-1945; and Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal, Elizabeth II (T.R. BELL). Naming is engraved in large capitals on RCMPLSM. Un-mounted, light contact on the RCMPLSM, original ribbons, near extremely fine. Accompanied by a binder with his RCMP Certificate of Service, a copy of his Canadian Army (Active) Discharged Certificate, copies of his Obituary (from The Ottawa Citizen of May 23, 1967 and from the RCMP Quarterly, Volume 33, Number 2 of October 1967), a Report from the Canadian Research Service (dated July 6, 1996), ten Photographs, three photocopied Photographs, and a Map of The Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa (with area "40" marked indicating his burial spot in the family plot). 

Footnote: Thomas Richard "Dick" Bell was born on March 30, 1912 in Ottawa, Ontario, the son of Haliday Bell and Ruth Hewitt. His parents were first generation Canadians, his father born in Ottawa, his mother born in nearby Chelsea, Quebec. All of his grandparents were from Scotland. The couple had seven children, including "Dick", his brothers Donald, Harry "Henry" and Hewitt and his sisters Norma, Ruth and Jean. "Dick" had a normal childhood, always wanting to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Bell joined the RCMP on January 7, 1933 in Ottawa, taking his discharge when his ten year term expired on January 6, 1943 and joined the Canadian Army Provost Corps three days later. He enlisted with the Canadian Army Service Corps on January 9, 1943 at Halifax, Nova Scotia and was hoping to go overseas, but due to his police training, he was placed in the Provost Corps. He tried for several years for overseas service and finally received a posting to the Canadian Irish Regiment, but before his training had been completed, the war had ended and he returned to his Provost Corps duties. F-51773 Lance Sergeant Thomas Richard "Dick" Bell was discharged upon demobilization at No. 9 District Depot in Ottawa on April 6, 1946, after three years and three months service in the Canadian Army Service Corps. For his Second World War service, he was awarded the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and the War Medal 1939-1945. The following day, January 7th, Bell re-joined the RCMP in Ottawa, now age 34. He married a widow, Marguerite (nee Soucy) Gilliam, in addition to having one son, John, from her previous marriage. Over the course of his career with the RCMP, Bell was assigned to General Detachment Duties, along with being a Dog Master for a while. He was stationed at various locations, including: Regina, Punnichy, Yorkton, Esterhazy, Calder, Foam Lake, Wadena and Pelly in Saskatchewan; Charlottetown and Montague in Prince Edward Island; Halifax, Shubenacadie, Sydney and Pictou in Nova Scotia; Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories; Vancouver, Esquimalt and Brilliant Dam in British Columbia; Rockcliffe and Ottawa in Ontario. Bell was promoted to the rank of Corporal on December 1, 1954 and was retired to pension on November 20, 1959. 11970 Corporal Thomas Richard "Dick" Bell's service with the RCMP entailed a total of twenty-three years and five an a half months: January 7, 1933 to January 6, 1943 (ten years) and June 11, 1946 to November 20, 1959 (thirteen years, five and a half months), earning him the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Long Service Medal. Even though he retired from the RCMP in 1959, he remained in police work and joined the Nepean Police Department, serving with them for six years. He resigned from the Nepean Police Department in 1965 and went to work for a Protection Agency, Taggart Services as an Inspector. Thomas Richard "Dick" Bell died suddenly at his home in Ottawa while doing yard work, suffering a stroke or heart attack, on May 21, 1967, at the age of 55.