Albert Griffiths

This search started when I received an email from Denny, a Vietnam War veteran and medal enthusiast. Denny recently receive a BWM from one of his mates who had found the medal in a box of trinkets. The medal was awarded to 1546 PTE Albert Griffiths.
Albert was originally from Manchester, UK and emigrated to Australia sometime prior to WWI and settled in Melbourne. With no middle name it was impossible to filter out which Albert Griffiths he was, among several dozen others, in the Victorian records or on the electoral rolls. There were several letters from Albert to the Department of Defence written in the 1930s requesting a copy of his discharge certificate. The reason for the loss was that his riverside camp was flooded and all his possessions swept away. I've seen this before and it usually means that the veteran was an itinerant worker hit hard by the Depression.
Having hit a brick wall I noticed that Albert at least had his administration squared away during the war. He listed his sister, still living in Manchester, as his next of kin. She must have married during the War and Albert updated his NOK details on his service record. I just wish every solider did the same today, my DCO colleagues will know what I mean. After those letters from the '30s, Albert disappeared completely.
Albert's sister's surname was Cashin and I soon found her on an Ancestry tree. My original thought was that I would have to start looking in UK for a relative until I looked at other siblings. One brother was named Ernest and he also moved to Australia. His daughter's name was Hazel, but went by Zelda. This led to a second surprise, Hazel only died in 2016. I found a newspaper story about Hazel which happened to give the name of her great grand daughter. The rest was easy and yesterday I spoke with Albert's great great niece. Denny will be posting the medal to her in the near future.
The returned medal tally is now 2176.