T/CPL Norman George Robert

As the popularity of Anzac Day continues to grow I continue to be heartened by the interest shown in our military history and for our veterans. At this time of year I receive an upturn in enquires about medals that have been lost or other which have been held be families with no known connection to the veteran. Last night I received a referral via a friend to an online question about returning three WWII medals.

Following a series of messages, Patrick told me he had the medal awarded to SX16643 Norman George Robert. The medals had previously been in the possession of another family member but why will remain a mystery.

This picture of Norman is from his WWII service record

Norman was from South Australia which, as I've mentioned previously, is a difficult state to do family research based the lack availability of public records. There was no evidence that Norman and his wife, Evelyn had children but beyond a 1982 death date for Norman I couldn't find much else. However, I found Norman's parents included on an Ancestry family tree. Within a couple of hours of sending the tree owner a message I was talking to Norman's niece. This is Jane and shortly, I'll connect her with Patrick so that the medals can be back with Norman's family.

The returned medal tally is now 3005.

LAC Keith Crowne

This return was a real community effort. A fortnight ago, Kara posted on social media, a picture of a group of four WWII medals she was seeking to return. Several people shared the post with me or provided Kara with my contact details.  

The medals were awarded to 136723 LAC Keith Edward Crowne who served in the RAAF during WWII. 

Keith was a sheet metal worker before the outbreak of the war so his skills would have been of considerable importance to the war effort both in a civilian capacity and in uniform.

Keith's life was easy to follow through the public records. Luckly. I found him on a family tree which gave me a clue to the surname of a member of the current generation. It took a bit of an educated guess to narrow down the best person to contact, but a distinctive name combination led me to Keith's grand daughter, Anita. 

I've now connected Kara and Anita so that the physical return of the medals can be arranged. 

Thank you to all the people who made a referral or put Kara in touch with me. This is a great outcome just before Anzac Day and also marks passing the 3000th returned medal milestone.  

The returned medal tally is now 3002.

SGT Eric McCormack - RAAF WW2

This search took about 24 yours in total but some conflicting information made the search for the family of Eric John McCormack that bit harder.

Eric's WW2 RAAF service record provided all the basics I needed. Some post war letters included in the record help me to confirm he was still alive in 1985. However, multiple family trees on Ancestry indicated he died in 1977. This took me down a rabbit hole until I established that a person with exactly the same name died in Sydney in 1977 where as Eric lived in Melbourne.

Once that confusion was sorted out, I focused my search on Tasmania where Eric was born in 1911. To the best of my knowledge, Eric did not marry so I started looking at the families of his many siblings. Several other brothers service during WW2 including Alexander Mark McCormack and Phillip Sylvester McCormack.

I found a death notice for Phillip which helped me verify all the family connections and finally led me to the decedents of another brother, Hector.

I've just been in contact Hector's great grand daughter. I'll return the medal to her. Hopefully, they will arrive by Anzac Day, no pressure Australia Post.

The returned medal tally is now 2998.