This search started after I was contacted by Natasha who had found two medals amongst her husband's grandfather's possessions and was seeking to have them returned to the veteran's family.
The medals were awarded to two different servicemen and this story is about the Defence Medal awarded to PM3737 Ronald Sydney Hayes. Once I saw the service number I knew Ronald served in the Royal Australian Navy and his home port was the Port of Melbourne as indicated by the letters PM.
The RAN service record of this period are usually only two pages but the basics are all recorded including the next of know details. Following his discharge, Ronald returned to Melbourne and worked as a blacksmith's striker. There is no evidence that Ronald married or had children.
I found Ronald on an Ancestry tree which had not been accessed for over a year but did have the tree owner's name viewable. I found the same name on social media so took a punt and sent off a message. Sure enough I found the correct family. This is Lisa who confirmed she is Ronald's great niece.
An additional piece of information provided by Natasha is that the house where the medals were found was often a halfway house for other veterans so this may explain how they got there.
The retuned medal tally is now 3044.
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