RAAF WWII medal

This is a very short story for a very quick return.

The search started with a Facebook post on a genealogy page about the search of the family of Jean May Martin who served in the RAAF during WWII. One of her medals had been found by Katrina who reached out for assistance and my friend Sandra referred Katrina to me. It took about 5 minutes to link Jean and her family via Ancestry. A message to the tree owner connected Katrina with Jean's family. 

The returned medal tally is now 2864.

WWII RAN group

One of my most enduring partnerships is with the Directorate of Honours and Awards. The staff will often receive medals from the public with a request to have them returned to the veteran. I'm more than happy to assist by doing the research to find either the veteran or their family. Donna B is one of the kind staff members who forwards me the lost medals they receive. She recently sent a package of several medals which included a WWII group of four medals awarded to S5325 Galvan Solomon Thompson, RAN.  

Galvin married Lorna Mavis Goodwin but there is no evidence they had any children. Through an Ancestry family tree I've been able to contact Holly, a member of Galvan and Lorna's broader family. Holly will soon be passing the medals to the most appropriate family member to be the custodian.  

The returned medal tally is now 2867. There are a few slightly interesting points about these medals. As was the RAN policy at the time, the stars were not name, however, the circular medals were. The group is mounted with the circular medals facing the wrong way. And these medals have been polished with Brasso, any soldier will recognise the white residue of dried Brasso that has filled the impressed naming.  

Duplicate WWII medals

When a set of duplicate medals is sent to me it means that not only the original issued group have been lost but also the official replacement set. This link is to a post which explains all about duplicate medals. 

These medals were awarded to N245888 William Edward Meridith and from his service record I can see he received the original medals in 1955. Over the years he lost his discharge certificate twice and applied for a replacement. There is no correspondence on his file about him having lost his medals. It would have been interesting to see the reason why as official replacement medals are only provided under specific circumstances. Also with the medals is a copy 1939-45 Star.

William's medals were sent to me by Janine S who came across them in her uncle's possessions. How they came to be there is not known. I started this search yesterday and found William on an Ancestry family tree owned by Margaret. It is a bit of a complicated family connection. However, William raised his grandson who lives NSW, his son, William's great grandson, will be visiting Margaret in the near future. I'll send William's medals to Margaret tomorrow and not long after that they will be passed to his grandson.

The returned medal tally is now 2863.  

WWII RAAF KIA medals

This is a summary of a recent online conversation I had:

Hi Lost Medals Australia, I'm currently helping out a guy who has found some WW2 medals whilst doing a renovation on a home he purchased in 1999.
With research, we have found that the medals belonged to Australian Flight Sergeant John William Houseman service number 424634, born 12.9.1922 and died 21.7.1944. He was seconded to RAF  626 Squadron and was a rear air gunner on a Lancaster bomber (that was attacked by a JU 88) which crashed at Zietenary ou Zoetenaise, Belgium. He was single and childless at the time, aged 22 years. 
The medals were forwarded to his sister Betty Estelle Richman, nee Houseman. Betty passed away in 2014. She and her husband adopted two girls and the girls had 3 sons according to her husband's obituary in 1997. We have tried local newspapers, family history sites and local RSL with no success.

Hi and thank you for your message, I can do one better. The daughters are Jennifer Jane and Ann Margaret. Jennifer married Alex. Their son is Ben. Sadly Jennifer died in 2015. The layer who handled both Betty and Jennifer's estate can be contacted on..... Why don't you call and see if they can put you in touch with the family?

Hi Glyn - Just an update re the service medals of Flight Sergeant John William Houseman. With the additional information you supplied, I was able to contact the solicitor you named and now have had contact with the family. They are truly pleased the medals have turned up and are looking forward to their return to the family. I hope to be there when that happens along with a number of others that helped us get to this point. Can't thank you enough for the information you supplied as I had hit a brick wall with my research. The local paper is going to run a follow up story to mark the occasion. 

Based on the names I was provided I had quite a bit of difficulty trying to work out the married names of Betty's daughters. There was no published death notice but I did find the probate notice for Betty which gave me Jennifer's married name. This was a bit of a surprise for a death in 2014 but is now a resource I'll use in the future.

The returned medal tally is now 2854

Assisting the Victorian Police

This search commenced with an email from Victorian Police Sergeant S Cook. His station was in possession of four WWII medals and returned from active service badge awarded to VX142364 Geoffrey Griffin.

It took a bit of time to work out who Geoffrey was until I worked out his middle name was John. This small piece of additional information opened up the full story. Geoffrey died in 1987 and I could find no evidence he married. He died in 1987. His NOK during WWII was his sister Ruby. 

Ruby married Leslie Albert Blair and had two sons. One son died in 2009 and the other in 2017. I did manage to find the children of one son and provided all this information to Sergeant Cook. As it turns out, one of Geoffrey's relatives through this family line is a detective in the Victorian Police.

The returned medal tally is now 2849.