Back to the family, the long way

This is not the first time I've had this set of circumstances occur but it is nice to have a positive solution.

The 1914-15 Star and British War Medal awarded to 6596 LCPL John McCarthy, Royal Munster Fusiliers was sent to me by the Morrissey family in 2010. 14 years ago it was quite difficult to research the background of a British solider, although I did work out he died on 9 May 1915. Every few years or so I would recheck the details to see if additional information had been posted online. I kept coming up empty handed.

Last week I received an email from the grandson of the original donor asking about the circumstances of the 2010 correspondence. This prompted me to revisit the research and, thanks to Ancestry, I found the information I needed.

These photos are of correspondence from John to his cousin Pat Morrissey naming Pat as his next of kin. There is also an interesting comment about a link to Victoria Barracks in Sydney but I couldn't work out what that connect is.

 

The connection to the Morrissey family was now established and the medals will be returned to the family who donated them all those years ago. As it turns out the new family custodian is a retried solider and these medals will join his own and his grandfathers.

The returned medal tally is now 2928.

WWII medals with an interesting connection

This is the last of the medals from the recent package sent to me by the Directorate of Honours and Awards. Several of the other groups from this source were related to each other in a certain way, they were brothers or brothers in law. Even though all these medals were in the same box, the connection with this return but it took a bit longer to work out. 

The first medal I looked at was the WWII War Medal awarded to 26867 Motor Mechanic Alan David Morgan, RAN. Alan's next of kin was his wife Kathleen Hilda (nee Chapman). The married in 1935 and had a daughter, Helen. Following being demobilised in May 1946, he became ill and died on 9 Feb 47 and is listed on the AWM roll of honour. Alan and Kathleen had a daughter, Helen Divina Morgan. All these details are on his headstone, even though it is a bit hard to read. 

The next part of the puzzle was the medals awarded to VX69456 SGT George Franklin Palmer. 

George's next of kin was his wife Ivy. Ivy died in 1962 and George in 1986. This is Geroge's headstone, which is also difficult to read.

When I read 'stepfather of Helen' on George's headstone, I realised I had the link. George married Kathleen in 1963.

Kathleen, George and Helen lived in Warrnambool, SA. After Helen married Ian Saxby Reardon in 1958, their life took a turn and they headed to PNG with their young children. I found several stories about their life in PNG and the their long association with the other Australians involved in the PNG community.

Helen died in 2011 and Ian in 2020. The next challenge was trying to track down either Helen and Ian's two children. The lawyer who administered Ian's estate kindly passed my details to their son Mark who I spoke to today. 

Thank you once again to Donna at Honours and Awards. The returned medal tally is now 2926.