10 more medals on the way home

Thanks once again to Bill's research skills, we are now about to return another 10 medals to the families of Australian serviceman. This week will see the return of the Patience, Abbott, Russell and Gibbs medals. That will take the medals returned count to 361. Some photos are below.

When I retrieved the Patience medal from storage I noted that it wasn't as bright and shinny as other WWII medals. When I checked my notes I remembered that this medal was one of several that had been handed in to a RSL in NSW and then forwarded to me. The RSL suspected that the these medals were the proceeds of some robberies. Once I looked at them all I noted that some of the medals had the details on the rim removed. Now having a closer look at the Patience medal I suspect that it has been dipped in some form of corrosive with the intent of removing the name. The photos below show how the features of the obverse and reverse are not very distinct. There is also an unusual pitting on the surface.

39/45 Star of

CPL George Abbott

RAAF

Three WWII medals

awarded to

SGT C.R. Russell

War Medal awarded to

CAPT J.D. Patience

Note the pitting on

the surface of the

medal.

Seven medals returned this week

We have had a real purple patch in the last few days. Bill has done the majority of the work and deserves the credit. We have now resolved the Flynn, Holloway and Beck searches. Below are photos of some of these medals.


WWII group to
James Beck











WWII War Medal to
Neville Flynn

Web site update

Hi, Scott just updated the Lost Medals Australia web site. This update includes some great details and a photo of LT K.A. McLeod. McLeod was in the second in take of RMC, Duntroon. His Corps of Staff Cadets number was 55. He, along with his class mates, graduated early to go to WWI. LT McLeod was killied at Gallipoli on 3 May 1915.

A low number and it's going home

A few posts down I listed some medals awarded to early enlistees of units. I had a picture of a BWM to 62 A/CPL R Collins, 42 Bn AIF. The medal is darker than usual and I found that the photo didn't come out to well on the web so I decided not to display it.
Well today I located the family so it is time to rephoto it and use another angle. Some of my friends on the British Medal Forum have displayed some very good photos of medal rims so I'm trying to emulate their efforts. I haven't quite cracked it.

Robert Collins was originally from Blackall in Queensland and I've located his niece who lives in Longreach.

Another medal goes home

One medal that I've had for some time that has intrigued me was the BWM to 23 SGT Alfred Keith Button, 2 Mobile Veterinary Section. It intrigued me due to the low number and the unusual unit. Indeed, I even focused on this medal in an earlier post. As I was researching the soldier I found that his brother was in the same unit with the regimental number of 25.
Once again Bill did the majority of the work and located Button's daughter, Wendy, who lives in Canberra. This occurred a fortnight ago and it just happened that I was traveling to Canberra for work last week. So I took the opportunity to call on Wendy and return her father's medal. I had a wonderful couple of hours with Wendy. I must say she is very savvy when it comes to technology and we spent a bit of time accessing Button's service record and searching around other websites. I don't usually meet the people I return medals to so when I do it is pretty special.
Here is a photo of Wendy and the rim of Button's BWM.