Bill's latest success.
Regular
followers of our blog will by now be used to the variety of stories that we
tell and the routes we follow to return medals to families.
The
story of SX12221 Staff Sergeant Donald Lloyd Rankine and the return of his
medals is one such route. A path that had more right and left turns than a
street directory. However, to protect the privacy of those involved much of the
research has been omitted.
The
background to the medals was their discovery in a box along with other sets of medals
that the now deceased owner of the box had been trying to return. “It was his
hobby” was the comment I received when I started asking questions, including
the three most important. “Do you know how he got them, and from where?” and
“….how long has he had them?”
“Er,
yes” then “Er, no actually” was the answer. So the search began with three
important elements missing. From whom and where had they come from and when.
Unfortunately,
War Graves had no details of any family deaths, so it became a protracted
search through those South Australian cemeteries that are on line. The link
that finally took me to the family graves was Donald’s fathers fore names, George
Lourdon.
From
cemetery records it appears that Donald died in 1970 and his brother, George in
2000. From follow on research I found that neither had married.
So
the search then stepped back a generation to their parents and their siblings.
It has not been an easy search, but then again as Glyn will tell you few are. While
the Internet has opened up vast fields of information, privacy legislation has
closed off the critical part.
To
Chris, that picked up the challenge deciding that the medals should not be
relegated to a drawer. To Carmen who has accepted the responsibility of caring
for Donald’s medals. From one ex-service man on behalf of another ex-serviceman.
Thank you.
The
returned medal tally is now 2022.
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