06 January 2012

Harold Claydon - British War Medal

In a post earlier this week I showed a picture of a British War Medal awarded to a RAN sailor with the rank of Boy 1 Class. That particular medal was awarded to 6252 Harold Francis Samuel Claydon RAN.
I managed to follow Harold through his life by using the archives and newspaper articles. However, I lost all leads following Harold's death in 1969. We then asked Yuku to see what they could find and we were soon provided with a photo of Harold's wife's memorial plaque which gave us his children's names. This in turn led to a series of phone calls that ended with me making contact with Harold's daughter Jill this afternoon.
The story is even more complete as I know how the medal was lost and when it was found. Seventy years ago the medal was found in Casino, NSW, following an Anzac Day parade. As can be seen in the picture the medal is broken from the suspender which shows how it fell off the ribbon. The same family held on to the medal until it was sent to me in November 2011. Thanks to Ron S for taking the first step to seeing the medal returned.
The returned medal tally is now 1059.

1 comment:

  1. This story and the one about the Vietnam medals brought me to tears
    after 70 and 50 years of being lost they are now returned to their families
    what a wonderful site this is & I can see how much work is involved with all concerned
    congratulations to all

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