World War Two and Korean War medal group

This group of eight medals awarded to 21419 Jack Sydney Cowling, RAN came to me from the NSW RSL. Prior to that, Sofie from WA with the help of the Mandurah RSL sub-branch, had forwarded the medals to the NSW RSL. 

There was something niggling in the back of my mind about this name so I did a search of my research notes and found this email:

'Some years ago there was a burglary at my Melbourne home, and my father's service medals were stolen (amongst many other items). He was a Chief Engine Room Artificer in the RAN, #21419, serving from 1937 (perhaps 1936) until after Korea. He served on HMAS Hobart from the time it was transferred to the RAN in the UK until after the Tokyo Bay surrender, then at various shore stations, and then HMAS Sydney (the aircraft carrier) in Korea. Hence he received  a number of Service Medals, including Africa Star, Burma and Pacific, United Nations, Long Service and Good Conduct as well as Defence and some others. They have his service number inscribed on the rim. I guess I have given up hope of seeing them again but to-day I became aware of your organisation, and thought I would contact you to see if you can assist or suggest avenues I might pursue in trying to locate them.'

This email was sent to me in 2014 by Jack's son Sid. 

Jack joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1937 as an Engine Room Artificer. At the time he probably didn't realise that the majority of his career would be spent at war. This link is to the synopsis of his WWII service. He later went on to serve in the Korean War as described in this link. While it is hard to read, this is Jack's service card. It looks like Jack spent the entire period of WWII on HMAS Hobart (I). He was aboard HMAS Sydney (III) during the Korean War. 

Jack discharged from the Royal Australian Navy in 1954. He and his wife settled in Melbourne before he died in 1967. 

Jack's service record indicates that he was also awarded a long service and good conduct medal but that is not included in this group. The style of naming is exactly what I would expect for medals issued by the Royal Australian Navy. The font is different to those issued by the Army and the impressing is more pronounced.  

Thanks to Sofie who initiated the chain of events which ended up closing the loop with Sid. Thanks also to Ivan and Tracey from NSW RSL. Jack's stolen medals will soon be returned to his son. 

The returned medal tally is now 2732.

Sid Spence

No medals are being returned on this occasion, rather, three personal items which I have no doubt were precious to SX1770 Sydney Stewart Spence. The collection includes Sid's dog tags, his pocket watch and a pocket book of bush ballads. 

The inscription inside the front cover of the book is very touching. It says - S.S.S 4.5.40 So you wont forget "the outback".

My research led me to believe that Sid didn't have any children. This was confirmed when I contacted Sid's great niece yesterday. This is Kay who tells me that she remembers Sid well from childhood holidays. 

Sid died in 1990 while he was a resident of RSL Care SA. When Nathan from RSL Care SA handed me the bag of medals last month, it was Sid's watch which he pulled out as an example of the type of items he was keen to see returned to families. And Sid's watch is still working.

 

KIA at Gallipoli

It is highly likely that 1769 Sydney Victor Jones lied about his age when he enlisted 8 January 1915. He gave his age as 19 but it is more likely he only turned 18 when he was killed in action at Gallipoli on 10 June 1915. 

Sydney was a member of 2nd Battalion, AIF and at Gallipoli at the same time as his brothers Harold and Arthur. They were member's of 13th Battalion, AIF. 1915 was a tragic year for this family; Arthur was WIA in May and Harold in August. Their father, Evan, died in a horse gig accident towards the end of 1915. 

Sydney was originally buried at Brown's Dip and later moved to Lone Pine Cemetery. The correspondence between Sydney's mother and the Army about the epitaph on this headstone is in Sydney's service record. One letter very tactfully explains there was a 66 character limit (including spaces) allowed on headstones and what the Army suggested might be left out to meet this limit.

This research started from an unusual source. I was contacted late last year by Graham whose wife, Pam, ran a successful medal mounting business for many years. Now in retirement, Pam has a few medals that were left with her and never collected. In this case the medal was Sydney's British War Medal. I've connected Graham and Pam with Tony who is Sydney's great nephew. In one of those 'it is a small world' moments, Tony is a good friend of my cousin Stephen.  

The returned medal tally is now 2724.

AB Couch

37856 Gunner Arthur Barry Couch was 27 years old when he enlisted in 1917. He was allocated to Artillery. This photo is a group portrait of the 37th Battery, Australian Field Artillery taken outside the Chateau at Cocquerrel, France, on 14 June 1918. I've marked Arthur. 

Even though he married, Arthur did not have any children. I've found his great niece who I'll return this medal to. Arthur's nephew was QX17723 Roy James Couch who was capture on Ambon as part of Sparrow Force. In 1999 I commemorated Anzac Day at the Ambon Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. Following the service the Indonesian military took us the location of the fiercest fighting and to where most of Sparrow Force were captured.

Arthur's medal was sent to me by Jill who found it in the garden of her house. When I checked the electoral roll I found that Arthur had lived at the same address as where Jill found the medal for many years before he died in 1967. The medal looks exactly how I would expect after being in the dirt.

The returned medal tally is now 2723.

FS Harding

The service record of 1151 Frank Stanley Harding shows that Frank had a reasonably straight forward period of service between March 1915 and August 1919. Page 19 of the service record is a synopsis of his war years with one entry that sticks out; he went AWOL in Cairo. Having read many other records, I think Frank could have got in a lot more trouble than other soldiers. For being AWOL, he was awarded 7 days field punishment number 2 and 10 days loss of pay. Frank was a signaller and served in 2nd Division and 4th Division Signal Company. 

This collection is rather interesting. Frank was awarded the WWI trio but I only received the British War Medal. Included, is the Anzac Gallipoli Medallion and lapel pin. The really interesting bit is that Frank's letter to the Department of Defence applying for this medallion is also in the service record.

I didn't find much information about Frank's other than his headstone and his name on an Ancestry family tree. I fired of a message to the tree owner and today I received a reply from Frank's great granddaughter. This is Mandy and I'll send her this collection later this week.

These are, of course, more items from the RSL Care SA bag. The returned medal tally is now 2722.

RA Pfitzner

These three WWII medals, awarded to S23608 (417122) Randal Albert Pfitzner, are more to come out of the RSL Care SA bag. The search was rather an easy one as I found Randal on an Ancestry family tree and within a few minutes of sending the tree owner a message I received a reply. I was in contact with Randal's niece Deb who I'll send the medal too later this week.

It looks as if Randal served in both the Army and RAAF during WWII. However, the periods of service are confusing. It looks like he enlisted in the Army on 12 August 1940 and discharged on 30 May 1946. However, the enlistment dates for the RAAF are from 6 December 1941 to 11 November 1942. Unfortunately, neither of the service records have been digitised on the NAA website so it is difficult to work out the details.

The medals have suffered some damage and are quite rusted. I've no idea what the the ribbon is on the 1939/45 Star. The returned medal tally is now 2719. 

Roy Schipper

I was unable to find very little in the public records about SX28138 Roy Ormond Schipper. Other than the information from his DVA WWII summary, all I could really find is that he died on 14 March 1995 and was buried in the same grave as his parents.

I was reasonably sure that Roy didn't marry and this was confirmed when I contacted a member of the Schipper family. It is to this family member who I'll send Roy's medals too. 

These medals are from the RSL Care SA bag. I suspect they are late issue based on the style of the naming. The impressing seems to be slightly bigger, neater and more hard struck that normal. The returned medal tally is now 2716.