Lost in the post

One of the organisations I have a great relationship with is Australia Post. My contact, Jackie, is a really fantastic lady and she collects medals that come adrift in the post and forwards them to me. Between us we have returned many medals to families. This return is a bit different. Jackie sent me four medals recently and as it turned out they originated from a coin and medal dealer. So through the dealer they are going back to the rightful owner. Medals returned tally is now 518.

A family group

This return is unusual in several ways. The medals are to WF45520 Jessie Ellen Wallace and WX37834 David Ross Winsor. They came to me mounted as groups ready to wear. It took a bit to work out that Jessie and David were married which is the first married couple I've had medals to.
The second unusual thing was the condition of the medals. They are in mint condition. I had recently been reading the book 'Australians Awarded' by Clive Johnson and I came across a comment about different types of the Defence Medal and the Australian Service Medal. I hadn't realised that there were later productions due to the original production run having been all used up. The original type had the designers initials under the King's head. The later types had no initials. Also medals issued after 1992 were named using pantograph rather than being impressed. So these medals have no initial and named in pantograph. There is no 'D' to indicate they are officially issued duplicates. From all this I believe they are late issue medals.



Medal returned tally is 514.

A local return

I was recently sent a Vietnam War Campaign awarded to 6709604 Douglas Robert Kilpatrick. He served with 2nd Advanced Ordnance Depot. I had a bit of trouble tracking him down however, the key was a electoral roll entry that Bill found. This lead was exactly right and I spoke to Doug today. I'll return his medal in the very near future and since he and I live in the same city, I do this return in person. The medal returned tally is now 509.

5163 PTE Fredrick Pearson

The BWM awarded to 5163 PTE Fredrick Pearson was sent to me almost 2 years ago. Pearson was a bit of a lad and got in to a bit of trouble. He was also wounded on several occasions. His service record is pretty interesting. Returned medal tally is 508.

Gilpin

In April, I received the WWII group of four awarded to NX108259 Keith Lyall Gilpin. These medals are in mint condition, they have never been mounted or worn. This brings to 507 the number of medals that Lost Medals Australia has returned.

WOFF Braid

It is a real privilege to return medals to a veteran who is still alive. In this case the veteran is RAAF WOFF 32531 Donald Nicol Braid. I had a great chat with him last night and very soon I'll be sending him two of his WWII medals.

The returned medal tally is 503.

2646 PTE W.V. Flanagan

This medal has had a pretty tough life. 2646 PTE William Vincent Flanagan was KIA on 7 Jun 1917 (92 years ago tomorrow) and the medal was sent to his mother. The medal has lost its suspender and is rather dented. I've had it for about 8 years so where it has been during the intervening period is anyone's guess. This is medal number 501 returned by Lost Medals Australia.

Number 500

Today Lost Medals Australia has reached a significant milestone. The return of the WWI BWM to the family of 3265 Frank Freer Connors is the 500th medal that has been returned by Lost Medals Australia.

Leonard Edward Foster

I have had the medals awarded to Leonard Edward Forster for over five years, so the resolution of this search is very satisfying. Once again, Bill is to be congratulated on putting all the pieces in place. This takes the tally to 499 medals returned.

An overdue update

As you can see from my last post I have been overseas for a bit. While I have been away Bill has been doing some wonderful research. He has located six families with considerable help from our friends at The Australian Surnames Group. I've also been contacted by one family. Here are some photos and links to service records.

513 Claude Henry Jarmain 5 LHR

7535 PTE William Pearce 3rd Bn

NX153520 Jack McCabe

VX123415 John Lube O'Dwyer

118261 William Tonkin

The tally of medals that have been returned to veterans or families is now 496.

A meeting worth waiting for

I have mentioned before that we very rarely meet the families who we return medals to. When we do it is a very special occasion and we have tried to put photos here or on the web site. This week I did meet with a family and it was a memorable occasion.

On 27 Mar 09 I reported that we had located the family of 335 T-CPL George Clifford . The family live in England so my initial thought was to pop the medal in the mail. My wife, Anna, later said she could see the wheels slowly turning over as I put all the pieces in place. As it happened we had a trip to England planned so I suggested to Rob, who is related to Clifford, that I bring the medal to London for him. That plan fell in place and on 4 May I met Rob, and his wife Cathy, and returned the medal to them. We had a wonderful day with them and here are some photos of Rob and me in Kensington Gardens.

Updated 25 Sep 12. The donor of the Clifford medal was Barry of SA. It was remiss of me not to mention this in the past.

SX 38114 TPR Thomas Sutton

Some of the searches that we do turn out to be very easy, others are far more difficult. The quickest search I've done took 17 minutes from the time I got the medal to the time I spoke to the family. On the other hand I have medals that I purchased over 8 years ago and I've made little progress with.
Today I received a medal at 1130. It was handed to me by a gent who works in the same complex as me. At 1210 I spoke to the brother of SX 38114 Trooper Thomas Stanley Godden Sutton and arranged for the medal to sent to him. Sutton served in the 1st Armoured Car Regiment after enlisting in 1944. He served through to 1947 and died in 1954. This search was made easy by the unusual middle names that Sutton had. I used these to locate where he died. I then looked up the name in the White Pages and there were two listings in that town. I took a punt and the first number I called was the brother. This is the 479th medals returned by Lost Medals Australia.

136273 Wallace Campbell

The Internet is fantastic for locating people. We use it a lot to trace veterans and then find their families. Often the reverse occurs. All over the Internet I have posted the names of people we are looking for and family members come across these posts.
This is exactly what happened in this case, the daughter of 136273 Wallace Campbell came across our list on the NSW RSL web site and followed the links to me. Today I'll send back Campbell's medals to his family. The medals returned tally is now 478.

NX102698 Eric Granter

Lost Medals Australia has had a very successful fortnight. The medals returned count now sits at 475.

One of the latest returns is the WWII War Medal awarded to NX102698 Eric Granter. Bill tracked down Granter's nephew and the initial response was that the full medal group was together. However, on closer inspection it was discovered that the War Medal in the group was an unnamed replica. So now the original War Medal has been returned to the family and the group has been reunited.

This search, along with many others, has only been possible due to the fantastic work of Charlee, Jenn, Liz and Sharon from the Australian Surname Group. Thank you ladies.

VX79017 Allen James Flowers

Allen Flower's medals were stolen about 15 years ago but now one of his medals will be returned to Allen. As can be seen from the picture the medal has had a very hard time while it has been lost. (Medal returned count 473).

NGX466/NGX57 John Francis Morell

John Morell enlisted in Rabual and is listed with the service number NGX57 and NGX466. More importantly Morell was a POW aboard the Montevideo Maru a Japanese transport ship that was sunk by the US Sturgeon off the Philippines in 1942. (Medal returned count 472).

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.