WWII medals and original box

There is not much of a story about the actual medals awarded to NX7812 Robert James Edward Anderson. The real story is what happened in the years after Robert died on 23 August 1955. There is a series of letters from Robert's widow about his medals. Then in 2000, Robert's son, also named Robert, wrote to Defence again about the medals and details about Robert's WWII service. These letters are rather touching.

I started this search for the Anderson family in mid July 2024. The message I originally sent was forwarded to Robert's grandson, Les. As it turns our Robert (junior), died on 3 September 2024 so didn't know the final chapter of his father's medals. I'll send these to Les in the near future. 

I usually post photos of the naming on each medal. However, these three medals awarded to Robert James Edward Anderson are still in their original wrapping and box. 

The returned medal tally is now 2920. 

 

WWI and WWII service

The next medal to be returned that came out of the Directorate of Honours and Awards package is the British War Medal awarded to 3394 Sydney Jon Clinch, 55 Bn AIF. Sydney also saw service during WWII as N448269.

Sydney was from a prominent Taree, NSW family. This is the obituary of his father, James Robert Clinch. This name continued on in the Clinch family and Sydney named one of his sons James Robert. 

The younger James also served during WWII in the militia with the number N448274. It looks like James was in a Reserved occupation and served part time. Unfortunately, tragedy struck the family in November 1944 when James died at the family property.

James' service record shows he did not die on duty.

Sydney died in 1963.

Sydney and his wife Bertha had several children including Irene 'Molly' Locke. It is Molly's son Peter who I've been in contact with and will send him his grandfather's medal in the near future.

Thank you once again to Donna from DHA. The returned medal tally is now 2917. 

WWI Military Medal

This medal was another surprise that came out of the recent package I received from the Directorate of Honours and Awards. The surprise being this is a Military Medal. 

The recipient of this medal was 717 SGT James Emmett Bourke who served in 2nd Battalion, AIF. The medal makes up a lot of the information in SGT Bourke's record of service. There are letters relating to the loss of his medals, requests for replacements and even an inquiry as to why he was awarded the MM.

SGT Bourke died in 1947 and the issue of his missing medal is well known in his family. It was easy to follow SGT Bourke through public records and work out his family. I was able to trace his oldest daughter 'Peggy' and today spoke to SGT Bourke's grandson, Andrew. Andrew told me that the medal was often mentioned and there was speculation as to why it went missing. After all these years the MM is being returned to SGT Bourke's family.

Thanks once again to Donna of Honours and Awards.

The returned medal tally is now 2916.

WWII group plus a bit more

This group was an interesting one to research. Once again it is from the Directorate of Honours and Awards package Donna sent me. 

The medals were awarded to Stanley Victor Charles. He served in WWII and was awarded the usual medals for someone who served in the Pacific. Following WWII he served in the newly formed Australian Regular Army (ARA) with the number 31354. 

It was for this post WWII service he was awarded two other medals which what makes this group interesting. The first is the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with Australia clasp, the ERII version. Hand engraving is used to name this medal which also includes 'ARA' after the name. I've not seen this style before. 

The second medal is the Meritorious Service Medal (Australia), also the ERII version.

Because Stanley served post WWII, his service record is not freely available yet, so it is difficult to know exactly what his service comprised of. 

I found Stanly on an Ancestry tree and the tree owner responded very quickly to my message. This piece of research took about 15 minutes to get a result.

The returned medal tally is now 2915.

 

The Redfern brothers

This is the second return out of the package I recently received from the Directorate of Honours and Awards. 

Like the return completed yesterday, this one has a family connection, the recipients were brothers.

The WWI group was awarded to 1367 Edward William Redfern. Edward was a member of 13 Bn, AIF and served at Gallipoli. Specific information provided by the family is that he was evacuated with influenza on 27 June 1915 then returned to Gallipoli on 1 August 1915. William was wounded for the first occasion at Lone Pine in 7 August 1915. He then was wounded again on 22 August 1915. This was a gunshot would to his left leg which caused him to be evacuated to the 21st General Hospital at Alexandria. Edward's condition deteriorated and he became dangerously ill. He died of his wounds on 26 November 1915.

The WWII group was awarded NX69901 Reginald Sylvester Redfern. Reg was seven years younger than Edward. The last page of Reg's service record indicates he died in 1971, he was single and his NOK was his sister, Mrs Beryl Standring. This led me to an Ancestry tree which is owned by Beryl's grandson, John. Within minutes of sending off a message I was chatting online with John. All this about 20 minutes after I started the research.

Thanks yet again to Donna for Honours and Awards.

The returned medal tally is now 2909.

WWI medals to brothers in law

Recently, one of my contacts at Defence Honours and Awards forwarded me a parcel containing seven separately packaged groups of medals, each with the soldier’s name on an envelope. As I did some preliminary research a few things jumped out at me. There will be more stories to come which explains the other surprises This was the first and it was it was a bit by chance that I discovered the connection with these two groups, considering I just gave the named envelopes a cursory glance.

The first soldier I looked at was 1017 Cecil Carrington Wamsley. I found Cecil quite quickly on several Ancestry family trees. When there are multiple trees containing the name I’m researching, I look at the details to ascertain the connection between the soldier and the tree owner. Some trees might have no apparent connection while others show the clear family linkage. The family path to a descendant of Cecil was pretty clear.

The next name I looked at was 38783 Arthur Menasseh Bailey. To my surprise Arthur’s wife’s name was Isabella Alice Elizabeth Wamsley. A more thorough search of the NSW BDM records confirmed this was Cecil's sister. Cecil and Arthur were brothers in law.

I’ve now been in contact with the Marcelle who is a descendant of this family, and I will soon be returning all these medals.

Thank you to Donna from Honours and Awards for sending me this very special package.

The returned medal tally is now 2900.

CC Wamsley

Bailey headstone