Leslie Castle

The low regimental number for 511 Leslie Raymond Castle indicates that he was an early enlistee to 19th Battalion, AIF. Leslie enlisted in February 1915 but the battalion was raised in NSW in March of that year as part of the expansion of the AIF.
This medal was sent to me by the Boulder RSL (thanks Darrel) and a well connected family history network put me in touch with Leslie's grand daughter. The returned medal tally is now 921.

Post update

The post about the medals awarded to Frank Arbon has been updated.

Evelyn Bessie Spradbery - searcing for the family

I've had an Imperial Service Medal awarded to Mrs Evelyn Bessie Spradbery for some time. Finding her family has evaded us, so Morris recently obtained her death certificate. What we know is she died on 28 Jul 91 at the Kendal Green Hospital, Kendal. Her husband's name was Reginald John Spradbery and they lived at 74 Hall Park, Burneside, Kendal, Cumbria, UK. Reginald died in 1996.
I'm hopeful that by putting all these details together in one post we might eventually get a hit from someone who is doing some research on this family.

Lost medal returned by a different method

While my main focus is returning medals that have been found and then donated to me, I often get asked to look for medals that a family no longer has. I used to maintain a list of these medals on our website but this became very difficult to administer and distracted from the main purpose of Lost Medals Australia.
I still get many people ask me to look for medals so I keep their details in my records in case they ever come my way. However, the pages that we did publish with the looking for list are still cached on the web and people often come across them.
This happened recently when I was contacted by Mick of Brisbane who won a militaria lot at an auction and one of the items was the WWII War Medal awarded to QX42659 R Farley. When researching this name Mick got a hit on our website because Farley's son had contacted me in the past and his details were listed.
Mick has just let me know that he has been in contact with the Farley family and come to an arrangement to return the medal to them. Well done to Mick for seeing this through to the end. The returned medal tally is now 920.

Frank Arbon

Two days ago I was contacted by WO1 Paul Herbig who had a set of WWII medals that had been found on Anzac Day 2010 at Circular Quay. Paul had used his network to search for the family of the veteran. One of his contacts pointed Paul in my direction and I'm very pleased to report that this afternoon I spoke to the son of WX3993 Frank Arbon who did misplace this medals.
Hopefully, I'll have some photos to add to this post in the future. Well done to Paul for persisting with his search to locate Frank's family.
The returned medal tally is now 919.

Update 20 June 2011
I received the following from WO1 Herbig today:

'I had the great pleasure today 20 Jun 2011 to hand back the medals  to their rightful owner - Roy Arbon.

Roy came to Randwick Barracks and was handed the medals by the member who actually found them and was then asked by the Mess members to stay for Morning Tea. This made the event a bit more formal and was well received by the members present, as well as Roy.'

This photos shows WO1 Dave Hutton, who found the medals, and WO1 Paul Herbig returning Frank Arbon's medals to his son Roy Arbon at the Randwick Barracks Sergeant's Mess.

Henry Jackson

The medals awarded to NX174263 Henry Sydney Jackson are also in as issued condition. They are still wrapped in the original tissue paper they were issued in.
The medals are from the NSW RSL box and the returned medal tally is now 913.

Arthur Ross

The medals awarded to WX2741 Arthur Angus Ross were stolen on Christmas Day 1992 from his niece's residence where Arthur was living at the time. Since then they have been in the custody of the WA Police, the WA RSL and then sent to us.As can be seen in the photos the medals are in as issued condition and have never been mounted for wearing.
The returned medal tally is now 910.

Arthur Finch

This WWI Victory Medal was awarded to 3376 Arthur James Finch. This is what we know from the family: 

Arthur Finch was one of the many young men who established the ANZAC legend, and who always considered him self lucky, in having come through the War. This from a man who added 5 years to his age when claimed on enlistment that he was 21.

Was wounded twice, was critically ill with pneumonia, and contracting influenza in 1919 during the great European Pandemic.

On his discharge Arthur, ever the incurable optimist, claimed to have suffered no ill affects from his service. However, as his daughter Pauline commented, "he did slow down a bit as he got older"

Arthur was a member of the 45th Battalion, AIF.

This medals come from the NSW RSL box and take the returned medal tally to 905.

 

Joseph Hughes

The four WWI medals awarded to NX194200 Joseph Desmond Hughes are in as issued condition.
These are from the NSW RSL box and brings the returned medal tally to 904.

The 900th returned medal - Leslie Check

The Australia Service Medal 1939-1945 awarded to NX176364 Leslie Herbert Check is being returned to his daughter. Of note this medal is an official duplicate as donated by the 'D' after the name which can be seen in the pictures. Thanks go to Mike from the Byron Bay RSL Sub Branch for sending this medal to me.
The number of medals that have now been returned by Lost Medals Australia is 900.
Well done to all those who have assisted me. My thanks particularly goes to Bill for his tremendous efforts, especially while I was deployed.

Jack Donnelly

N210678 Jack Edward Donnelly's medals were sent to me by the NSW RSL. These will be retruned to his wife.
The medal returned tally is now 899.

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.

Ernest Phillips

NX6009 Ernest Lawrence Phillips was an early enlistee from NSW signing up on 3 Nov 39. The search for his family was rather complex and is best told using the Australian Surname Group thread.
We also know this from the family:

Ernest  who was captured in Crete, spent most of his 4 years as a POW working in the German Salt mines in Silesia.

As the POWs were being forced marched back into Germany to prevent them being liberated by the Russians, Ernest escaped. Ernest later said escaping saved his life as he doubted if he would have survived the march from Poland to Germany, a march that took place in the middle of winter.

These medals were sent to me from Frances of the Phoenix Society and the returned medal tally is now 894
The family have also been good enough to provide us with a photo of Ernest (on the right) with the notation on the back that it was taken while he was a POW.

John Cooke

NX32195 John William Cooke lived a life that made finding his family very difficult. He married young but the marriage didn't last. During WWII he was a POW at Changi and married again when he returned to Australia. Unfortunately, his second wife died in 1954. He married again to a widow who had several children of her own. John never fully recovered from his experiences in Changi and  was never able to eat a whole meal right up until his death.
These medals are from the NSW RSL box and the returned medal tally is now 889.

     

 

Post update

The following post has been updated:
Allan Barton

Bertram Houston

The search for the family of 3121 Bertram John Houston was quite difficult and stretched Bill's research skills. However, Bill persisted and has located Houston's nephew. The search was complicated by Houston's use of different names during his life. At various times he went by Bert, John or Bill. Houston served with the 16th Bn, AIF.
From the research it is apparent that after the war Houston and his family lost contact. From his service record we know that in 1955 he applied for a duplicated set of medals and at the time he was living in Innisfail, North Queensland. 
The British War Medal we are returning to the family is the original one awarded to Houston. Thanks to Brian for sending it to me in the first place. The returned medal tally is now 886.

Selwyn Ogg - 11th LHR

The Internet made the search for the family of 57257 Selwyn Robert Alexander Ogg reasonably easy. I came across a mention about him on a family history web site and was able to eventualy find the family through Face book.
Selwyn was a member of the 11th Light Horse Regiment which, as part of the 4th Light Horse Brigade, participated at the Charge of Beersheba. However, Selwyn didn't going the AIF until 11 April 1918 so did not participate in the charge.
His WWI service record shows that his only medal entitlement was the British War Medal which is pictured. Selwyn also served during WWII.
From the family I understand that Selwyn was married to Barbara and known as Uncle Buller. Selwyn and Barbara didn't have any children of their own.
This medal was sent to me by Daniel and takes the returned medal tally to 885.

Arthur Hadler

I have recently received a parcel from a retirement home in Victoria which contained six medals and other memorabilia from service during WWII. The medals were awarded to VX143861 Arthur Richard Hadler. Mr Hadler died in 2010 and from information I received from the retirement home and what I could piece together from newspaper entries, Hadler had no immediate family still living. I cast the net a bit wider and found a member of the Hadler family to return the medals to.
What makes this group interesting is that the medals are an official duplicate set. They are marked with a (D) and are lazer engraved rather than impressed as the originals would have been. As well as the standard WWII group, there is an Australian Service Medal 45-75 which I know was issued to Hadler in 2007. I suspect that at some point Hadler has lost his original medals and applied for a duplicate set and as a result the ASM 45-75 was also issued.
The pictures show the naming style and the duplicate D marking.
The returned medal tally is now 884.

Charlton

12186 Abraham Stanley Charlton served in the RAAF during WWII and was awarded the Australian Service Medal 1939-1945 and the War Medal. These medals were found in a pub near Woolongong in 2005. They were then handed into the NSW Police who forwarded them to the the Directorate of Honours and Awards and then finally to me. Well done to Debra from the Wollongong Station for taking this action.
The medals will now be returned to Charlton's grand son.
The returned medal tally is now 878.

 

Claude Keenan

The internet is one of the main research methods we use. There are large quantities of records available on line which we use to narrow down the search for a family. Every now and then we get a result by just typing in a name in the search engine. This also works both ways. Every so often a family doing some research of their own comes across one of our entries.

That is what happened in our search for 14732 Claude Hector Harold Keenan. Bill started this search in August 2010 with an entry on Yuku which ended up giving us the details of his children. Then in May 2011, Claude's grand daughter, Georgia, was demonstrating to her mother how to use the internet. She put Claude's name in the search engine and up came the Yuku entry.
Claude served in the 3rd Depot Unit of Supply and later the 3rd Field Butchery. The 3-D.U.S. impressed on his medal is not very common.
The medal returned tally is now 876.

Update - William Henry McKenzie

We have recently received some information from the family of William Henry McKenzie about how his medals were stolen. I've updated the post on this case with the details as well as a photo of William.

David Carmichael Wallace

I recently received an email from the niece of 3683 David Carmichael Wallace who came across his name on our website. I've had his British War Medal for almost 12 months after it was sent to me by the WA RSL.
Wallace was a member of 11th Bn AIF and I discuss this battalion in this link. He was reported missing in action in June 1916 but later confirmed to be a POW in July 1916. He was eventually released at the end of the war.
Knowing that Wallace served with 11th Bn I had a look at Ian Gill's book Fremantle to France and came across a picture of Wallace. The picture is reproduced below with the kind permission of Ian.
The returned medal tally is now 875.

Post updates

For the last six months I have been deployed to Sudan as part of the ADF commitment to the United Nations Mission in Sudan. While away many cases have been resolved. Most blog entries since November 2010 do not have photos or have only basic information. Now that I'm home and can access the medals and other information I've updated the individual entries.

NX172739 P.B. Lane
NX51062 E.W. Butt and 66682 E.J. Arnold
55442 C.D. Alcock
NX150120 H.J. MacDonald
NX8141 S.H. Peyton
QX13604 W.J.L. Baltzarsen
NX38990 D.O. Edwards
NFX138781 I.M. Woodgate
32069 F.P. McMahon
NX170869 A.G. McMurtrie
FW45971 M.A.G. Easton
VX74091 J.R. Allen
NX68272 B.A. Shaw
QX9765 B.C. Locke
2792760 R.B. Marks
2161652 R.A. Hopper
266462 P.F. Holmes
6145 A.C. Fraser
2784501 J.A. Fernandes
A11511 K.J.Dollman
2478 C.T. Richards
VX133941 J.J. Bowers
5088 J.J.I. Page
NX192799 J.R. McWhinnie
L.J. Mannix
N5287 W.J.M. Stein
NX120899 R.G. Peck
NX43240 W.R. Aitken
NX166917 A.A. Williscroft
NX78704 G. Gibson
VX137241 J. Tucker
NX139346 S.E. Crelley
NX167154 S. McCarrol
22121 T.W.H. Pearson
NX113496 W.A. Bisiker
I.R. Clark
WX38909 R.C. Pickersgill
1977 R.S. McLeay
8046 T.C. Simpson
NX119329 E.H. Wynter
NX9084 S.W.M. Prisk
VX138275 W.H. McKenzie
NX14378 J.H Aitken
NX152551 B.J. O'Rourke
2166 V.W.L Miller
195 J. Fothergill
NX135563 R.A. Garfield

This is not the end of the process, the next step is to post medals to the families which may take some time to finalise.
My deployment is also the reason that the medal list on the website has not been updated for over 12 months. I hope you will understand why this has been a little slow in occurring.

Two recent articles

I have been very fortunate recently to have had two stories written about Lost Medals Australia.
The first appears in the National Archives of Australia on line magazine - Your Memento. As I have mentioned on many occasions I use the research resources of the NAA extensively and I was very pleased when this story was suggested.
The second is in the latest Department of Defence Honours and Awards news letter and tells the story of a group of medals that  were sent to Honours and Awards by a member of the public, forwarded to me and then finally sent back to the family.
I have a great relationship with both of these organisations and I am very grateful for the exposure that these articles provide.

Reginald Garfield

NX153363 Reginald Arthur Garfield was a Sapper in the Royal Australian Engineers from Sydney. Bill has tracked down his daughter but at the moment we don't know how three of his WWII medals went missing. These medals are from the NSW RSL box and the returned medal tally is now 874.

Update on 8 May 11 - photos added.

 

Fothergill update

Recently I posted the details of Jack Fothergill. My hope was to find the family before Anzac Day 2011 which will be the 96th anniversary of Jack's death at Gallipoli. Bill's fantastic research skills has put us in contact with Jack's great nephew.
Thanks to Paul of Kuranda for sending this plaque to me.
The returned medal tally is now 871.

Australian Honours and Awards

Thanks to a post on the British Medal Forum, I have recently been introduced to some great information about the Australian Honours and Awards system. The following links includes the Letters Patent, regulations and photos:
The Order of Australia
Australian Bravery Decorations
Meritorious Service Awards
Gallantry Decorations
Conspicuous Service

195 John (Jack) Fothergill

I usually use this blog to tell the story of returns that we have made. Every so often, I use it to get some exposure for medals we have in a hope that a family will come across the entry. This strategy has worked in the past.

This particular search is for the family of John Fothergill, more commonly know as Jack. Jack was a tram worker in Melbourne prior to the war. His parents address is originally given as Euroa but they later moved to St Kilda. He is a very early enlistee, signed up on 14 August 1914 and has the regimental number 195 for 6th Battalion. After training in Egypt, he landed at Gallipoli at about 1000 on 25 April 1915. He was injured that afternoon and was seen walking back towards the beach. Jack was never seen again and later classified as killed in action. He has no known grave. Jack’s service record has copies of the correspondence between his parents and the AIF in an effort to try to discover what happened to him.
As I started researching Jack, I came across a number of Internet references to him, mainly linked to Dr Michael McKernan and the research he has already done. What Dr McKernan discovered is that each year from 1916 to 1948 his parents put an In Memoriam notice in The Argus newspaper. Dr McKernan wrote a piece for the National Archives of Australia magazine about Jack. The article is on page 5. From this data, I know that his parent names were Robert and Isabella. Robert died in 1939 and Isabella in 1948. Some of the notices mention a brother and sisters but I have not worked out their names.
I have Jack’s Memorial Plaque and hope that this entry might assist in locating his family.

Update on 8 May 11 - photos added.

Victor Walter Leslie Miller

2166 Victor Walter Leslie Miller was an early enlistee from WA. His address on enlistment was Railway St Cottesloe (which Gail, Frank and I know pretty well). He was enlisted in to11th Battalion, AIF, which is still on the Australian Army ORBAT as a Reserve battalion. Victor's service record gave us heaps of clues, including a 1960 addition to the record which provides his date of death.
11 Bn, AIF is probably most famous for the group photo taken at the Great Pyramid at Giza. At home I have a large print of this photo up on the wall. The story of the battalion is told in the book Fremantle to France; 11th Battalion AIF, 1914-1919, written by an acquaintance of mine, Ian Gill. The book identifies some of the soldiers in the photo. When I get home I'll see if Victor gets a mention and if I can locate him in the photo.

Victor's WWI trio are from the WA RSL and the returned medal tally is now 870.

 

The officers and men of 11th Battalion, AIF.

A recent photo at almost the same spot. (Photo credit - LEUT Sara Mooney, RAN)

The article I have provided the link too appeared in the June 2004 edition of Sabretache and is written by another acquaintance, Anthony Staunton.

Update on 8 May 11 - photos added.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to identify Miller in the 11th Bn photo.

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.

 

NX15378 James Aitken

The WWII group of six medals awarded to NX15378 James Haig Aitken were sent to me by the WA RSL. Aitken enlisted in Paddington, NSW although his locality is given as Leeton, also in NSW. Aitken died in WA which is why they came to me from that state but as it turns out the medals will be returned to Leeton.
This link is to the Australian Surname Group research thread about Aitken.
The medals returned tally is now 866.

Update on 8 May 11 - photos added.

 

Blog refresh

Last night, a couple of issues arose with the layout of this blog. When I tried to rectify the problems I worked out that the template design process had been updated since I first made this blog. I was very unfamilar with the different attributes of the template designer so it took a bit to work out what everything did, the colours I could use and the flash new things that Blogger does.
So, I've played around a bit and I think I have come up with an acceptable update of the layout.