Andrew Whyte Watson

Usually I receive a single medal, sometimes a couple of medals or even the whole group awarded to a soldier. However, every so often I receive an item in the mail that is something special. In April 05 I received a photo album which told the life story of Andrew Whyte Watson. The album contained hi biography, his service history from his days in the RN Naval Division, his WWI and WWII medals and many family photos.
Watson served as C. Z-4268 AB Watson in the RNVR during WWI. He then served as NX131477 SGT Watson in the 2nd AIF.

Thanks to Bill's hard research work the album will be returned to the family in the very near future. Below are photos of Watson's medals. (Medal returned count is 466).

A good week

The last week has been very productive for Lost Medals Australia. The Penman family groups, listed below, was a big return. Since then the medals returned number has jumped to 459. This has included a National Service Medal and a couple more WWI medals.

The first WWI medal is the BWM awarded to 335 T-CPL George Clifford. The family are currently living in England so this is another international return.

The second group is the WWI pair to 1927 PTE John Ryan.

Penman family medals

Recently I received a box in the mail with no return address that contained 8 medals all awarded to members of the Penman family. The medals were named to the following:

1914-15 Star to S-7324 PTE A. PENMAN. R. HIGHRS

BWM to S-7324 PTE A. PENMAN. R.HIGHRS

Victory Medal to 17971 PTE W. PENMAN. CAMERONS

1914-15 Star 32960 PTE A. PENMAN R.A.M.C.

39-45 ASM W243016 A. PENMAN

War Medal W243016 A. PENMAN

WWII pair to WX36331 PTE David Douglas Penman who was KIA aged 19 in 1943.

My initial research showed that the recipients were William, Archibald and Alexander Penman. David Penman was Alexander's son. Sandra, from WA, did some wonderful research for me and put me in touch with a member of the family and I'll be sending the medals back to WA in the near future. This brings the medals returned total to 455.

Henry Brain

This search has been very frustrating but once again Bill triumphed and this 1914-15 Star awarded to 408 Henry Brain can now be returned to the family. The medal returned number is now 447.

Military Medal and Plaque

For a few weeks we have been researching the Military Medal (MM) awarded to 4346 Granville Victor Johnson. Bill, with Leonie's help, recently located the family of this soldier and the medal has been sent to me to forward on to the family. With the MM was the Memorial Plaque presented to the family after Johnson was KIA on 14 Sep 18. This now takes the medals returned total to 446.

Media activities

Lost Medals Australia has had a bit of media exposure lately. The article below appeared in the 5 Mar edition of Army News (unfortunately I could save the article and the picture). Today I did a radio interview with ABC Radio, the interviewer is Alex Slone.

Thomson

Today we have been in contact with the family of 25971 GNR Charles Gordon Thomson. This medal is well travelled. Thomson was originally from Melbourne but moved to WA. The family remained in WA but the medal turned up in NSW before being sent to me. Soon this BWM will be on its way back to WA. It is the 444th medal returned by Lost Medals Australia.

Leslie

I have posted the photos of the BWM awarded to 1178 SGT Arthur George Leslie before. I find the naming on this medal interesting as Leslie was part of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force that was formed separate to the AIF with the task of securing German territories and radio stations in the South West Pacific.

This time the photos are being posted to mark the return of this medal to the family. This is medal 443 that Lost Medals Australia has returned.

Benton

When I commenced returning medals my only source of medals was to buy them from second hand stores and the like. It didn't take long until organisations like the RSL asked me to take on the task of researching medals that had been handed in to them. I now have very few of those first purchased medals left to return.
Once such group is the WWII broken group to SX28928 Leslie James Benton which I purchased in 2000. So after over 8 years Lost Medals Australia has now returned these medals to Benton's son. Where they have been before I purchased them is a mystery. As can be seen in the pictures they are fire damaged so have had a pretty hard life.
The medals returned number now stands at 442.

Hinde

This week Lost Medals Australia located the family of NX194818 Christoper Duncan Hinde. The medals have now been sent back to the family bringing the total number of medals returned to 439.

Diggles

Lost Medals Australia is very pleased to return the WWII War Medal to the family of QX24178 Robert Diggles. This medal has been separated from the rest of Robert's medals so this return will reunite the group. While it has been lost it has had a hard life. It is quite tarnished and as you can see from the picture the engraving is a little hard to read.

This medal is number 432 that has been returned.

McKeown, Wilton and Gibbons

The Internet has proved to be the key enabler for a couple of the last few returns we have made.
The family of 128 PTE Leslie Henry McKeown came across McKeown's name on our lost medals list and contacted me direct.

Then on the same day a WWII group of 5 awarded to NX 45446 Beverly Robert Wilton arrived in the post. It took me a very short period of time to find that a notice had been put on the NSW RSL website looking for these medals.


Bill has demonstrated his superb research skill once again by tracking down the family of 36611 DV Frederick Francis Gibbons.


The number of medals returned by Lost Medals Australia is now 424.

2894 DVR J.W. Fell 2nd Light Horse Signal Troop

I have recently received the BWM awarded to John Walter Fell. Fell was born in Sydney in 1888 and enlisted in 1916 aged 27. His occupation is listed as Commercial Traveller and his unit on enlistment is given as 6th Light Horse Regiment.

His family consists of the following;

Parents:

Walter John Fell and Elizabeth Margaret

Siblings:

William Alexander Fell

Margaret Elizabeth Fell

Alexander Arthur Fell (also served in 6 LH and 2 LH Sig Tp)

Another medal to be returned

Some of the returns that we do are tinged with sadness. It amazes me the number of times that we locate a family shortly after the veteran has died. This is another such case. Bill has come through again and located the NOK of NX166745 Roy Birdwood Manuel. Roy died last February. I'll post his WWII War medal to the family tomorrow.
This takes the total number of medals returned to 418.

An overdue update

Since June 08 I have been very busy with a couple of ADF related activities and I have not posted as regularly as I would have liked. However, Lost Medals Australia has been very active. Since the last post a further 17 medals have been returned. This post will bring everything up to date.
In October, Scott was a crucial link between the Directorate of Honours and Awards and the family of Bombardier Jack Grimm and assisted in returning a WWII group of 5.

The next medal returned was a South Vietnam medal awarded to 15518 SGT James Dempsey. This medal was returned to his sister.

We seem to have had a run of luck with Vietnam War medals. The next two that were returned were to 43436 PTE Anthony Rowe. Rowe served with 709 Signal Troop and survived his tour in Vietnam only to be tragically killed in a motor vehicle accident shortly upon his RTA.

Bill is responsible for the research on the last two entries as well as locating the sister of VX106770 Charles Clifford Smith. This return saw a WWII group of four sent back to the family. Interesting to note that the naming on the medal rim has C.C.C. Smith rather than C.C. Smith.

Once again Bill came good with the next return, this time to the widow of VX11338 J.A. O'Donohue.

The next two returns are as a direct result of people searching the Internet and coming across medals we have listed on the Lost Medals Australia web site. The first was to WOII Robert Anderson. The medals are featured on the 19 May 08 entry below. I was contacted by a cousin of Balfour and have returned the medals. These medals are well travelled. Anderson was from VIC, the medals came to me from WA and the family is in QLD.

The next pair is to 4204 PTE Albert Rutherford. These medals will be returned to Rutherford's nephew.

Recently, both the Lost Medals Australia website and this blog have received a high volume of hits. This has resulted in many requests for assistance. I anticipate that in the near future there will be several groups, including a WWII MM being sent to me. The last thing to say at this point is that Lost Medals Australia has now returned 417 medals.

400th medals returned

Lost Medals Australia has reached a significant mile stone. This week I returned the 400th medal to a veteran or a member of their family.
This return was of the WWII war medal awarded to NX84054 Jack Rogers. His grand daughter contacted me after stumbling across his name which I had posted on the web.
I am very excited about this particular return.

Another world wide search

Earlier this year I received a WWII group of four medals awarded to John McCallum, RN. They came in their box of issue and the sailor's name and address was on the box. Since British WWII medals were not engraved the name and postal address were the only clue.

I tracked down a relative who is unfortunately deceased but his son is a well know actor who currently resides in the US. So I wrote to him and I have received a positive reply. I'll forward the medals to him in the near future.

The trail for this group is as follows. A British serviceman's medals were sent to me in Australia. The closest relative I can find is in the US and there are still family in Scotland.

This brings the returned medal count to 399.

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Lost Medals Australia goes global

This story is one of a world wide search. The soldier at the center of this search was John Wellesley Flood. Flood served as a Medical Officer with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force.
The request for Lost Medals Australia assistance came from Bob D who lives in Portsmouth, Virginia, USA. Flood's BWM had come in to Bob's Grand Father's possession when he won it in a Poker game. The family kept the medal until Bob contacted us. The search turned out to be very involved and Bill had to recruit authors, web site owners and an assortment of other contacts to eventually locate a nephew of Flood's wife Rose, Richard. As it turns out Richard lives in France. So a BWM issued to an Australian Doctor ends up in the USA and is returned to a family member in France.

A long search has now ended

One medal that has haunted me for some time has been the BWM awarded to 1856 PTE James Barrington -Kersland, Camel Corps. B-K intrigued me because of his service during WWI and WWII, his life as a journalist and some of the correspondence that is in his service record. The medal itself was also interesting because a medal to a Camel Corps member is pretty rare. I also know it's value and I've had several offers to buy it off me.

I had come to a dead end some time ago and the leads ran out at the Fawkner Cemetery in Melbourne. I went as far as to visit the grave site of B-K and his wife Lizzie in the hope that there was a grave stone that might give a clue to other family members. Unfortunately, the grave sites are bare plots with only the plot number visible after some cleaning. I was even tempted to bury the medal at the plot.

Once again Bill has come through with the contact details for a family member. This brings the medals returned count to 386.