The story goes like this: A council worker was mowing the highway verge near Calen, Queensland and saw a box in the grass. Usually this would have been run over but he noticed something shiny so stopped what he was doing and investigated. It turned out to be a set of medals.
Today, I spoke to Greg who is Rex's son. He tells me that his mother moved from Airlie Beach to Lismore and during the move a box of possession went missing. This box contained the medals and other personal items. Sadly Rex's wife died in the last few months.
Greg is having a bit of a run of luck with medals as he recently received his grand father's WWI medals from a cousin. My search for the Simpson family took me to the USA as I found a family tree originating from there which listed all of Rex's children. Alex, who owns the tree, provided me with some great information which unlocked the clue that led me to Greg.
Thank you to Kevin W from Calen who sent me the medals and to the workman who retrieved them.
The returned medal tally is now 1143.
Many thanks for posting this here, and I'm so glad my family tree led to the return of the medals to Rex's immediate family. Rex married a 4th cousin of mine. I should note that the research for this immediate family branch was originally done by Rex's wife's 3rd cousin Ann, who shared her notes with me and should take much of the credit.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Alex, a great team result. I'll post the medals to the Simpson family later this week.
ReplyDeleteGlyn
Rex Simpson's son Greg as asked me to add the following comment:
ReplyDeleteDear Glyn,
Thank you so much for the effort you went to in returning our father's WW11 medals Also thanks to Kevin at Calen and the person who found them on the side of the highway. Unbelievable!!. I thought I would never see them again. I know I could have obtained duplicates...but, not the same.
Our father was, I'm sure, like many young men at that time. He married Mum when he was 20 and within a few months had enlisted in the Australian Army and then was sent pretty well straight away to New Guinea where he served for the next four years. Wow!!.
Again, my heartfelt thanks to you and what you continue to do and achieve. My kindest wishes to you and, of course, to your best support, Anna.
Yours, Greg Simpson.
Greg has asked me to add the following comment. This is a great family story:
ReplyDelete"In my excitement at having Dad's medals found and returned, I omitted to to give sincere thanks to Alex Hall...not only, as it turns out, is Alex my long lost 4th cousin(slightly removed) but a key player in this incredible story.
So, Alex...from me and mine...thank you so much.
Yours, Greg Simpson"