Leslie Lewry

6010481 Leslie Lewry saw service in the British Army during WWII for which he was awarded the 1939-45 Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medals and the War Medal. He then served in Palestine as part of the British involvement following WWII. For this Leslie was awarded the General Service Medal. Luckly this medal is named so I was able to start searching for him.
In the 1950s Leslie and his wife Elvery moved to Sydney and eventually settled in Perth. Using the electoral rolls and cemetery records I was able to gain a solid picture of their life in Australia. Unfortunately, they did not have any children.
By going backwards through the British records I established that Leslie had two brothers, Richard and David. It is through David's family that I have locate a family member to return theses medals to. Having focused most of my search in the UK I find that I'll end up sending these medals to Brisbane.
Thanks go to Pam McG who sent me the medals.
This return takes us past a significant milestone. The returned medal tally is now 1401.

George Pittman

WX3719 George Alfred Pittman was born in Ballancourt, France before his family settled in Western Australia. When George enlisted his profession is listed as school teacher and reference is made to in his service record. For his service in the Pacific George was Mentioned in Despatches.
Pictured are George's War Medal, Defence Medal and the ASM-1939-45. Missing are the 1939-45 Star, the Africa Star and the Pacific Star which George would also have received.
Thank you very much to Peter L who sent these medals to me last week and also to my friend MJ who was the initial go between.
These medals will soon be returned to George's daughter. The returned medal tally is now 1208.

Post update 11 Dec 12
I recently met George's daughter Sue so that I could return these medals personally. We spent a wonderful hour chatting about George and his exploits as a linguist during WWII. This photo is of Sue and I - and George - taken by Sue's husband Steve. Sue tells me that George's remaining medals are still with the family so the entire group will be reunited.

A Murrish

As soon as I received this 1939-45 Star I knew it wasn't awarded to an Australian. It then took some time to work out it's origin.
I know it wasn't an Australian issue as the naming conventions were different to what I am familiar with. An Australian issued WWII star has the service details on two lines; the number on the top line and the initials and surname on the bottom. Also the naming is central on the reverse of the medal. This example, as can be seen in the photo, has the naming on three lines. It is spread apart on the reverse and is a different font and font size from the Australian naming. Also a check of the Australian WWII nominal roll showed that no one with this name served in the 2nd AIF, the RAN or the RAAF. I also know that is wasn't British as WWII medals were issued un-named.
So where to look? Morris C, my man in Brisbane, got stuck in to the research and narrowed down the family to South Africa. That was the key. Unfortunately, there is very little in the way of South African records available on line but I narrowed down Morris' initial research enough to work out the family emigrated from England to South Africa in the 1920s. The next proof I found was the publication in the London Gazette that 31434 LCPL Murish was Mentioned in Despatches. This confirmed that he served in the South African Forces but not much else.
It was finally through Ancestry that I was able to contact the family and the medal will be returned to them in the near future. Much thanks go to Morris for his tenacity to get the break through on this search .
The returned medal tally is now 1194.

Alexander Percy Mason - WWII group of five medals

This search has gone around the world and ended with a family connection only 300km from where I live.

The first thing I noticed in the nominal roll entry of VX50020 Alexander Percy Mason was that he was born in Peru. A little unusual for a 2nd AIF soldier. The next piece of information that was of interest was that Alexander was a POW. Given his date of death was May 1945 I thought it highly possible that he died while in captivity. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission confirmed this but threw up another surprise; Alexander is buried in the Yokohama War Cemetery. This link shows a picture of his cemetery plaque. Alexander was originally a member of Gull Force and was captured on Ambon.

From all this a I was able to determinate the names of his parents but in 1942 they were living at the Crest Hotel in Crowborough, Sussex, England. A probate notice I located for Alexander gave no further information that I could use. The clue that opened up the next line of research was a passenger list from 1920s which showed the Mason family travelling from Lima, Peru to England. From this list I got the names of Alexander's siblings. The first brother I looked at was Harry Russell Mason. On a hunch I looked at the WWII nominal roll again and found this entry. Further research showed that Harry married Annette and was a farmer in Victoria. The thread then ran out in the late 1940s.

For what I could work out Alexander and Harry moved to Australia in the early 1930s, however, two other brothers and a sister remained in England. The first I looked at was Alexander's sister Mary. An internet search of her full name threw up a result of her marriage to Charles Arthur Crofton-Atkins. The entry reads:

Charles Arthur Crofton-Atkins, O.B.E. (1963), of Av. Angamos 1585, Miraqores, Lima, Peru, Director and general Manager of Central Railway of Peru; born 18 January 1906, educated at Rossall; married 3 March 1933 to Mary Phyllis Mason, daughter of Harry Mason of Northwood, Middlesex and Lima Peru.

The web page that gave me this information shows that the Crofton-Atkin's family has a long and distinguished military history. From this entry I could determine the names of Alexander's nephews and I was then able to locate their contact details in the USA and the UK. 

And that is where the search came back to Australia. My inquiry to Mary's sons was forwarded to Harry's son, Richard, who I wasn't able to locate in the Australian records. Richard has recently been in contact with me and as it turns out he lives on the north side of Sydney, about 300 km north from where I live.

So this search has taken me from South America to England, Victoria, Ambon, Japan, North America and finally back to New South Wales.

Alexander's medals are in as issued condition and were sent to me by the NSW RSL. The group consists of the 1939-45 Star, the Pacific Star, The War Medal, the Defence medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45. The returned medal tally is now 1173.

    

Lieutenant Owen George Dawes RANVR

Every so often I receive a set of miniature medals and we are asked to return them. Unfortunately, miniatures are not named like full size medals so without any supporting evidence this would be an impossible task.
In this particular case I did receive additional information that helped us locate the family of Lieutenant Owen George Dawes RANVR.
When the miniatures of the 1939-45 Star, the Africa Star and the Pacific Star were sent to me they were accompanied with a letter and Owen's calling card. All this helped me establish exactly who the medals were awarded to.
The envelop which contained the letter is addressed to Mrs J Ibotson. The letter thanks Mrs Ibotson for her kindness given to Owen and his wife Sara and offers the minitures as a gift so that he might be remembered. The letter is pictured below (click on the letter for an enlarged view).
We initially ran in to the usual brick walls on this search until very recently when Owen's grandson came across our research on the Australian Surname Group. He then got in touch with us and the medals will be sent to him shortly.
Thanks to Helga N who sent me the medals and letter.
The returned medal tally is now 1153.

Frank Boyd - RAAF

The request to find the family of 412101 Flight Sergeant Frank Lawrence Boyd came to me from Air Force Head Quarters. The medals were held by the Gaythorne RSL but we took up the case on their behalf.
Frank was killed in action over the Netherlands and is buried in the Enschede Eastern General Cemetery. A picture of the headstone is below.
Frank's three WWII medals will be returned to his great nephew in the near future.
The returned medal tally is now 1146.

Source

Update 28 May 12 The three medals that will be returned to the Boyd family are the 1939-45 Star, the 1939-45 War Medal and the Air Crew Europe Star.

Another biscuit tin - J.J. Lamond

Bill and I are having a run on biscuit tins at the moment.
This tin was sent to me from Townsville. The tin was discovered in an old out building on the property which the current residents have owned for 22 years. They had only recently discovered the tin before sending it to me last October.
The medals were awarded to QX36418 Joseph (Joe) John Lamond. The group consists of the 1939-45 Star, the Pacific Star, the Australian Service Medal 1939-45 and the War Medal. These medals are an official duplicate set that have been reissued by the Department of Defence. The 'D' that indicates they are duplicate can easily be seen in the photos. This link is to an explanation about duplicate medals.
Thank you to Julie F who sent the biscuit tin to me. The returned medal tally is now 1125.

WWII group of 5 medals to RAN

This group consists of the 1939-45 Star, the Pacific Star, the Defence Medal, the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45. The medals were awarded to W1265 Able Seaman James Robert Carr. Carr's service record is also available on the NAA. (To access the service record follow the steps in this tutorial.)
Carr's medals were found in Queensland in 2005, they were then handed in to the Queensland Police who forwarded them to the Directorate of Honours and Awards. The medals were sent to me in 2010. Most of the leads we had ran to nothing and Bill put a post on the Australian Surname Group. Carr's grandson, Ben, came across the entry and got in touch with us.
I'll put the medals in the post next week so that they are with Ben by Anzac Day.
The returned medal tally is now 1116.

Wilfred Wilkinson WWII group of four

This is one of those searches I would like to have happen all the time.
The medals awarded to NX42733 Wilfred Lawrence Bruce Wilkinson were sent to me by the Dee Why RSL sub-branch. They arrived in the post on Wednesday afternoon and less than a minute after opening the envelop I was talking to Wilkinson's son in law. This morning I spoke to Wilkinson's daughter and arranging to send the medals to her.
The group consists of the 1939-45 Star, the Pacific Star, the 1939-45 War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45.
The returned medal tally is now 1105.

WWII groups to Leslie and William Searle

In January 2011 I received an interesting parcel of medals and other military items. The other items included a RAN service record, Returned of Active Service Badge, dog tag and ribbon bars. These were all for two brothers, William Thomas Searle and Leslie John Searle.
William served in the RAAF with the number 34543 and Leslie in the RAN with the number S3594. As part of my research I learned that Leslie was known as Jack and after the war was a police officer with the NSW Police Force. Jack's service record is available on the NAA web site, here. The medals awarded to William are the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45. I suspect they are his full entitlement and are in their box of issue. The medals awarded to Jack are the 1939-45 Star the Pacific Star, the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45. Stars awarded tot eh RAN were issued un-named as can be seen in the second picture.
The medals and other items will be returned to Jack's daughter. William didn't have any children of his own and his medals will remain with Jack's medals. Thanks to Joe D who originally sent me the medals.
The returned medal tally is now 1101.

Late issue WWII medals

These two medals come with a very interesting story. The 1939-45 Star and Australian Service Medal pictured below were awarded to H2896 David James Harold Hicks.
When they arrived in the mail I was very surprised to see that the box was a modern issue from the Directorate of Honours and Awards and not of 1950 vintage. Then I looked at the naming and saw is was laser engraved. I know that this method of engraving started after 1992 so the medals were issued after that year.
One of the reference books I use is Australians Awarded by Clive Johnson. In this book Clive provides excellent information about naming styles and different variants of the same medal. As it turns out the ASM has three types. The first type was issued from 1952, when stocks of this type ran out a type 2 was produced and eventually a type 3. There a subtle difference between the three types but when you know what to look for it is easy to work out which type it is.
The ASM to Hicks was the first type so I suspected that it was issued in the mid to late 1990s. There is no duplicate marking so it is an initial issue. What is also unusual, which can be seen in the pictures, is that the medal is named in the following sequence: Initials, Name then Number which is different from earlier times when the Number is first.
While searching for Hicks I ran in to the usual brick walls. Even though his service record was available on line it gave little information, except for one very important clue, his wife's name is Pauline. Based on this I spent a few hours using Ancestry to track the family. Unfortunately, there was only one electoral roll entry for David in 1954 and nothing for Pauline.
The next clue I got was a suburban war memorial entry which provided David's date of death in 1995 and then the trail went very cold. It was time to take a few punts. The Tasmanian birth, death and marriage indexes are not on line and cost a fee to access so that was out of the question. So, I looked for any burial information and came across a Hobart cemetery which listed David's burial. It also gave the suburb where he lived. A further search did not show that Pauline was buried in the same cemetery. I started to wonder if she might still be alive.
I took another punt and found a P Hicks listed in the White Pages who lived in the same suburb so I rang the number and sure enough I had found the family.
As it turns out, after David died his daughter noticed an anomaly with David's medals so she wrote to Honours and Awards. This was in the late 90s. The medals were then issued, however, I now know they were incorrectly addressed. They eventually came to me and thanks goes to Carole and Michael for wanting to see the medals go to the correct family.
The returned medal tally is now 1073.

Reginald Dickie

WX15244 Reginald McLaren Dickie's 1939-45 Star was sent to me by the WA RSL and will now be returned to Reginald's son. I find the naming on this medal interesting as the middle initial is given as 'McL' with a superscript c rather then just 'M'.
The returned medal tally is now 895.

Brian O'Rourke

This return is of the 1939-45 Star awarded to NX152551 Brian Joseph O'Rourke. Bill has been in contact with O'Rourke's neice and this is what we have been told:

'I would be honoured to keep Brian's medals with my paternal grandfather's service medals. My grandfather Frank O'Rourke (Francis) died in Concord hospital in Sydney when I was about 12 and had lost an eye at Gallipoli. He had a sword and a feather in his army hat. I think Brian lived with him for a long time when he returned from New Guinea. None of my family ever marched on ANZAC day but would catch up with their mates in town after the march, and even though we never missed going into the March on the 25th April in our best clothes and wearing rosemary, and honouring the returned soldiers, my very own closet family would not march. They did not find anything positive about their experiences and found it too distressing to be honoured for the destruction and loss of life of so many good men. Franks medals and personal items never surfaced after his death and were believed to have been stolen. The saddest thing I ever heard was that his faithful horse that carried him bravely through war had to be destroyed by my Grandfather when he was returning to Australia. The same was for all the men. That would be soul destroying to men who had developed such a strong bond with their faithful companion when home was so far away.'

Most amazing is that the medal will be returned to another member of the Australian Surnames Groups. The link explains the research and the connection. The returned medal tally is now 867 and this medal is from the NSW RSL box.

Update on 8 May 11 - photos added.

 

William McKenzie

The WWII medals awarded to VX138275 William Henry McKenzie were stolen over 17 years ago. Now his 1939-45 Star will be returned to the family. This is the discussion about McKenzie on the Australian Surname Group. Thanks to Jo K for wanting to see this medal returned.
The returned medal tally is now 860.

Update on 8 May 11 - photos added.
 


















Update on 15 May 11 - Information from the McKenzie family about how the medal was stolen and a photo of William.

'the family house was left empty for a couple of weeks, it was at this time somebody decided to drive a truck onto the front lawn and start emptying the house, we were there the next morning and found half our home gone, we called the police and removed what else we could, lucky we did, as the next night they came back and cleaned out the rest of the house. The medals went in the thief's first visit, but it wasn’t just my Fathers medals but also my Grand Fathers, he had served at Gallipoli and many other places during the 1st World War. The theft of family memorabilia, such as photos and these medals hurt more than any other thing, as life goes on and you try and explain to your children what it has taken to get them here, these things are found to be so precious.'

 

Sydney Prisk

The 1939-45 Star awarded to NX9084 Sydney WM Prisk came to us from the NSW RSL. Bill broke the code on this search and located Sid's nephew Bob who provided Bill with the following:
Sid spoke rarely of his war, usually, like so many of the soldiers, he preferred to talk of the humorous incidents, such aswhen his unit was withdrawing from Greece and he and two mates spent several days on the run, hiding from the Germans. When they finally made it to the beach, Sid announced that he could not swim. So they stripped off and his two mates dragged him through the surf, supporting Sid to the boat that was to pick them up. Several weeks later it was almost a repeat performance, when Sid who still couldn't swim and his mates were forced into the sea during the withdrawal this time from Crete.
Sid later returned to Australia and he then served in New Guinea. He was discharged on medical grounds in April 1945. Unfortunately, Sid was, at times, in poor health due to complications from his war service. He hung on for many years until his death in 1998. Sid had always remarked that he was too stubborn to give up.
The returned medal tally is now 859

Update on 8 May 11 - photos added.

 

Norman Warran Castle

SX3890 Norman Warran Castle served in the 2/6th Field Ambulance and saw active service in North Africa. His medals (forwarded from the NSW RSL) are in as issued condition and have never been mounted for wear.
We have learnt from the family that Norman lived in NSW for many years following the war so his medals must have gone missing during that time.

The returned medal tally is now 733.

For those with an interest in the naming of medals there are a couple of interesting aspects with this group. The naming on the stars is usually squarely in the center of the reverse of the medal. However, on these two, especially the 39-45 Star, the naming is to the left (picture above). Also the naming on the rim of medals is usually in the center. On this ASM as the letters progress around the medal they tilt up. So much so that the top of the 'T' in Castle has caused the edge to swell up when it was stamped. This can be seen in the picture below.

WWII Medals

The following pictures are examples of medals that were awarded to Australians for service during WWII. There were considerably more than awarded for WWI. Other decorations for bravery and gallantry were awarded but I'll cover them in later posts.
The 1939-45 Star, showing the
impressing of the soldier's
number and name.










The Africa Star with 8th Army clasp (left)
The Air Crew Europe Star (right)











The Atlantic Star (left)
The Burma Star










The France and Germany Star (left)
The Italy Star (right)









The Defence Medal











The War Medal











The Australian Service Medal 1939-45










Naming on an Australian Service Medal

A WWII group





All medals awarded to Australians were impressed with the number and name of the soldier. The impression is on the reverse (back) of the Stars and the rim of the other medals.