Returning a medal is a fairly uncommon event. Similarly, reuniting one medal with another from the same group is also uncommon. Doing both is extremely rare in my experience. However, that is what has happened with the medals awarded to 27168 Kenneth George Hallett, RAN.
The first thing I found out about Kenneth was that his first period of service was in the 3rd Battalion, Volunteer Defence Corps with the number Q202042. This was from December 1941 to March 1944. Then he joined the Royal Australian Navy on 24 August 1944 through to 19 September 1946. His medals are hand engraved which was one method used by the RAN.
Kenneth's life was a bit of a mystery following WW2 but I found him on an Ancestry tree and sent the owner a message. That's when the story of his medals got interesting.
The tree owner is a relation of Kenneth's named Simone. She told me that she has had a fascination with her family's military history. She had replica group of her grandfather's medals made as well as being the custodian of her great great uncle's medal. At about the same time she received a random message that two of Kenneth's medals were for sale in an antique store. Simone bought Kenneth's 1939-45 Star and War Medal knowing it wasn't the complete group. When I contacted Simone it can as a surprise that I had another medal awarded to Kenneth. I'm not sure what his full entitlement is but there is at least the Australian Service Medal 1939-45 still out there.
Thanks to Graeme W who sent me Kenneth's Pacific Star, which will soon be returned to his family and reunited with two other of his medals.
The retuned medal tally is now 2811.
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