WWII medals with an interesting connection

This is the last of the medals from the recent package sent to me by the Directorate of Honours and Awards. Several of the other groups from this source were related to each other in a certain way, they were brothers or brothers in law. Even though all these medals were in the same box, the connection with this return but it took a bit longer to work out. 

The first medal I looked at was the WWII War Medal awarded to 26867 Motor Mechanic Alan David Morgan, RAN. Alan's next of kin was his wife Kathleen Hilda (nee Chapman). The married in 1935 and had a daughter, Helen. Following being demobilised in May 1946, he became ill and died on 9 Feb 47 and is listed on the AWM roll of honour. Alan and Kathleen had a daughter, Helen Divina Morgan. All these details are on his headstone, even though it is a bit hard to read. 

The next part of the puzzle was the medals awarded to VX69456 SGT George Franklin Palmer. 

George's next of kin was his wife Ivy. Ivy died in 1962 and George in 1986. This is Geroge's headstone, which is also difficult to read.

When I read 'stepfather of Helen' on George's headstone, I realised I had the link. George married Kathleen in 1963.

Kathleen, George and Helen lived in Warrnambool, SA. After Helen married Ian Saxby Reardon in 1958, their life took a turn and they headed to PNG with their young children. I found several stories about their life in PNG and the their long association with the other Australians involved in the PNG community.

Helen died in 2011 and Ian in 2020. The next challenge was trying to track down either Helen and Ian's two children. The lawyer who administered Ian's estate kindly passed my details to their son Mark who I spoke to today. 

Thank you once again to Donna at Honours and Awards. The returned medal tally is now 2926.

 

WWII medals and original box

There is not much of a story about the actual medals awarded to NX7812 Robert James Edward Anderson. The real story is what happened in the years after Robert died on 23 August 1955. There is a series of letters from Robert's widow about his medals. Then in 2000, Robert's son, also named Robert, wrote to Defence again about the medals and details about Robert's WWII service. These letters are rather touching.

I started this search for the Anderson family in mid July 2024. The message I originally sent was forwarded to Robert's grandson, Les. As it turns our Robert (junior), died on 3 September 2024 so didn't know the final chapter of his father's medals. I'll send these to Les in the near future. 

I usually post photos of the naming on each medal. However, these three medals awarded to Robert James Edward Anderson are still in their original wrapping and box. 

The returned medal tally is now 2920. 

 

WWI and WWII service

The next medal to be returned that came out of the Directorate of Honours and Awards package is the British War Medal awarded to 3394 Sydney Jon Clinch, 55 Bn AIF. Sydney also saw service during WWII as N448269.

Sydney was from a prominent Taree, NSW family. This is the obituary of his father, James Robert Clinch. This name continued on in the Clinch family and Sydney named one of his sons James Robert. 

The younger James also served during WWII in the militia with the number N448274. It looks like James was in a Reserved occupation and served part time. Unfortunately, tragedy struck the family in November 1944 when James died at the family property.

James' service record shows he did not die on duty.

Sydney died in 1963.

Sydney and his wife Bertha had several children including Irene 'Molly' Locke. It is Molly's son Peter who I've been in contact with and will send him his grandfather's medal in the near future.

Thank you once again to Donna from DHA. The returned medal tally is now 2917. 

WWI Military Medal

This medal was another surprise that came out of the recent package I received from the Directorate of Honours and Awards. The surprise being this is a Military Medal. 

The recipient of this medal was 717 SGT James Emmett Bourke who served in 2nd Battalion, AIF. The medal makes up a lot of the information in SGT Bourke's record of service. There are letters relating to the loss of his medals, requests for replacements and even an inquiry as to why he was awarded the MM.

SGT Bourke died in 1947 and the issue of his missing medal is well known in his family. It was easy to follow SGT Bourke through public records and work out his family. I was able to trace his oldest daughter 'Peggy' and today spoke to SGT Bourke's grandson, Andrew. Andrew told me that the medal was often mentioned and there was speculation as to why it went missing. After all these years the MM is being returned to SGT Bourke's family.

Thanks once again to Donna of Honours and Awards.

The returned medal tally is now 2916.

WWII group plus a bit more

This group was an interesting one to research. Once again it is from the Directorate of Honours and Awards package Donna sent me. 

The medals were awarded to Stanley Victor Charles. He served in WWII and was awarded the usual medals for someone who served in the Pacific. Following WWII he served in the newly formed Australian Regular Army (ARA) with the number 31354. 

It was for this post WWII service he was awarded two other medals which what makes this group interesting. The first is the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with Australia clasp, the ERII version. Hand engraving is used to name this medal which also includes 'ARA' after the name. I've not seen this style before. 

The second medal is the Meritorious Service Medal (Australia), also the ERII version.

Because Stanley served post WWII, his service record is not freely available yet, so it is difficult to know exactly what his service comprised of. 

I found Stanly on an Ancestry tree and the tree owner responded very quickly to my message. This piece of research took about 15 minutes to get a result.

The returned medal tally is now 2915.

 

The Redfern brothers

This is the second return out of the package I recently received from the Directorate of Honours and Awards. 

Like the return completed yesterday, this one has a family connection, the recipients were brothers.

The WWI group was awarded to 1367 Edward William Redfern. Edward was a member of 13 Bn, AIF and served at Gallipoli. Specific information provided by the family is that he was evacuated with influenza on 27 June 1915 then returned to Gallipoli on 1 August 1915. William was wounded for the first occasion at Lone Pine in 7 August 1915. He then was wounded again on 22 August 1915. This was a gunshot would to his left leg which caused him to be evacuated to the 21st General Hospital at Alexandria. Edward's condition deteriorated and he became dangerously ill. He died of his wounds on 26 November 1915.

The WWII group was awarded NX69901 Reginald Sylvester Redfern. Reg was seven years younger than Edward. The last page of Reg's service record indicates he died in 1971, he was single and his NOK was his sister, Mrs Beryl Standring. This led me to an Ancestry tree which is owned by Beryl's grandson, John. Within minutes of sending off a message I was chatting online with John. All this about 20 minutes after I started the research.

Thanks yet again to Donna for Honours and Awards.

The returned medal tally is now 2909.

WWI medals to brothers in law

Recently, one of my contacts at Defence Honours and Awards forwarded me a parcel containing seven separately packaged groups of medals, each with the soldier’s name on an envelope. As I did some preliminary research a few things jumped out at me. There will be more stories to come which explains the other surprises This was the first and it was it was a bit by chance that I discovered the connection with these two groups, considering I just gave the named envelopes a cursory glance.

The first soldier I looked at was 1017 Cecil Carrington Wamsley. I found Cecil quite quickly on several Ancestry family trees. When there are multiple trees containing the name I’m researching, I look at the details to ascertain the connection between the soldier and the tree owner. Some trees might have no apparent connection while others show the clear family linkage. The family path to a descendant of Cecil was pretty clear.

The next name I looked at was 38783 Arthur Menasseh Bailey. To my surprise Arthur’s wife’s name was Isabella Alice Elizabeth Wamsley. A more thorough search of the NSW BDM records confirmed this was Cecil's sister. Cecil and Arthur were brothers in law.

I’ve now been in contact with the Marcelle who is a descendant of this family, and I will soon be returning all these medals.

Thank you to Donna from Honours and Awards for sending me this very special package.

The returned medal tally is now 2900.

CC Wamsley

Bailey headstone

 

Korean War medals mystery

Through a contact I have in the Directorate of Honours and Awards I was connected with the family of 33522 Trevor Rex McQuinn. They recently discovered that Trevor's medal group of five contained two medals which were named to someone else. 

There is no doubt about Trevor's entitlement to Korea Medal, Australian Service Medal with Korea and PNG clasps, Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, Australian Defence Medal and UN Korea Medal. However, the Korea Medal and the UN Korea Medal are named to 21866 George Raymond Hatton. How these two medals came to be in Trevor's group is a mystery.

George died in 2003 but through a combination of information available in the electoral rolls and death notices I worked out the names of his children and eventually contacted his daughter. 

The family of Trevor and George have now been in touch and the medals will be returned. The next step is to locate the original Korean War medals awarded to 33522 Trevor Rex McQuinn. If anyone knows their location please send me a message. 

The returned medal tally is now 2897. 

       

Zebulon Ross Jeffrey - WWII, ANARE and the Vietnam War

This has been quite an interesting piece of research. It all started with an email from a friend of mine Shane R who I first served with in 1995. As the way is in the Army, our paths crossed on occasion as we were posted around the country and more recently we have been in touch through social media. Shane is now involved with an RSL sub-branch in South Australia and it is this context that he enlisted my help. 

Shane's sub-branch recently received several medals awarded to Zebulon Ross Jeffery who had an interesting service career. Zeb was obviously a smart man. Once he finished high school he was accepted in to the University of Queensland. Then, in 1944 he enlisted in the RAAF as aircrew. This is the link to his WWII service record. In May 1945 he was re-trained to be a Japanese linguist. Following the end of WWII, Zeb became part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force and stayed in Japan until he was discharged, at the rank of sergeant, in 1947.  

In 1967, Zeb enlisted in the Army (RASigs) and served in the Vietnam War. This is the link to his DVA service synopsis. He retired at the rank of major.

The medallion that comes with these medals is in recognition of Zeb's time with Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) as a radio physicist. This link is the obituary the ANARE Club published. 

Through a family tree on Ancestry I was able to connect Zeb's son and Shane so that the medals can be returned. The returned medal tally is now 2891. 

Discharged returned soldiers badge

Quite often I receive returned from active service badges which are rather difficult to research. Each badge is numbered. However, the number is an issue number rather then the veterans' service number. The issue number has to be connected to a name in records which are often difficult to find.

In the case of the WWI Discharge Returned Soldiers Badge there are some hand written registers available on the National Archives of Australia website. These registers are not complete and to complicate matters further, the WW1 badges were issued on a state basis and not all states retained the registers.

I recently received a badge and other items as can be seen in the picture. Luckly, the badge number was in one of the registers and I could work out it was issued to Clement William Sawyer. I've been in contact with the family and all these items have now been returned.

The returned medal tally is now 2886.