WWI, Iraq 1919 and WWII service

This story has so many different elements it is a bit difficult to know where to start.

Last week I received a group of five medals covering WWI, Iraq (1919) and WWII from Defence Honours and Awards. The medals had been found in a locked case bought at a car boot sale. The buyer was Beck H who sent the medals to Honours and Awards.

The group consists of five medals; WWI British War medal and Victory Medal, General Service Medal with Clasp Iraq, WWII War Medals and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45. The confusing bit is the naming on the medals. More about that shortly. 

What I know now is Archibald Webb was born in Leicestershire in 1898. In 1916 he joined the Leicestershire Regiment before moving to the Labour Corp then the Army Ordnance Corps. Following WWI he stayed in the British Army and was awarded the General Service Medal with clasp Iraq.

Around 1924 he emigrated to Australia and was working a labourer in Perth. Following the outbreak of WWI he enlisted in the Australian Army and was posted to an Ordnance Supply Company. Although he enlisted under his name of Archibald Webb, in 1943 he changed his name to Hastings-Webb, adopting his mother's maiden name. He stayed in the Interim Army following WWII and according to the electoral rolls was still a soldier in 1963. 

Archie married Annie in 1943 however, they did not have any children. He died in 1972.

I found Archie on an Ancestry family tree and 12 hours after starting this search I was communicating with a relative of Archie's and have arranged to send his medals back to the UK.

The returned medal tally is 2821.