Battle of Yavin Medal

Battle of Yavin Medal,
originally uploaded by Drhaggis.

I have always been disconcerted by the end of Star Wars IV. Quite simply, I never understood why Chewbacca did not receive a medal along with Luke and Han. Why did he walk down the hall with the others, if he wasn't going to get an award? It felt like a slight against the Wookie. With every new special edition that came out, I looked for that medal. It never came.

Peter Mayhew comments in interviews that he was always happy that Chewie he got in the last word, but I felt that with his appearance at the Comic Expo, we should do something special. We created a replica of the Battle of Yavin medal based on the Master Replica prop, framed it with a nice dedication and presented it to Mr. Mayhew on May 7th 2006.

Mr. Mayhew and his wife Angie are two of the nicest people you could meet. Affable and approachable, Peter towers over others in both stature and esteem.

After the show, the 501st invited the Mayhews and the FanForce out for dinner and drinks, where Peter and Angie regaled us with stories from the set and life. He answered all our fanboy questions with the humour and grace of a true professional.

May the force be with Peter and Angie.