21 October 2018

Dodd family medals

This return has some really interesting aspects, not the least being the condition the medals are in. My research commenced with an message from Nancy L from Sydney. Nancy's son works at a tip and had found two sets of medals. When they arrived in the post I was really surprised at the condition. The meals had been well cared for, however, it was obvious that they had suffered recent damage, probably from machinery at the tip. Nancy's son really needs to be congratulated for recovering these two medal groups and wanting to see them returned to the family.
The first group was awarded to Henry Albert Dodd. The group consists of the China War Medal (1900) but it has been separated from it's suspender, 1914-15 Star and Victory Medal. The group also has the ribbon and suspender of the British War Medal but the disk is missing. The group was awarded to Henry Albert Dodd who served in the Royal Navy for 6 1/2 years before emigrating to Australia. He was awarded the China War Medal while serving aboard HMS Goliath. Albert purhased his discharge from the Royal Navy then enlisted, age 33, in the AIF as was initially allocated to 20th Battalion, then Field Engineers and finally the Australian Flying Corps.
At the end of WWI, Albert (also known as Henry) stayed in England and married Letitca. Their first son, Henry, was born in the UK in 1919 before Albert returned with his family to Australia. Albert and Letitca had four more children; Vivian, Kenneth, Winifred and Geoffrey. Four of the Dodd children served in WWII. Here are the links to their nominal roll entries; Henry, Vivian, Kenneth and Winifred. Vivian died on 19 October 1943.
While researching this family I found that Henry died in 2005 in Dubbo, a picture of his memorial plaque is below. Kenneth died only recently and his daughter lived in the same area that the tip where the medals were found is located.
I found Kenneth on an Ancestry family tree. The tree owner is a lady named Roslyn who responded to my message with details of her own research efforts and work with veterans. However, the tree was not for her family but she had prepared it for a young man she met and was inspired to help.  This young man, Tom, is Albert's great grandson (Kenneth's grandson). Roslyn has connected me with Tom and I'll send him the medals in the near future.
The returned medal tally is now 2270.
 Henry's medals with broken China War Medal and missing British War Medal
 The pin that affixes the medal disk to the suspender.
 The recent damage to the China War Medal disk can be seen at the 9 o'clock position






 This picture shows damage to the medal bars.


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