This has been quite an interesting piece of research. It all started with an email from a friend of mine Shane R who I first served with in 1995. As the way is in the Army, our paths crossed on occasion as we were posted around the country and more recently we have been in touch through social media. Shane is now involved with an RSL sub-branch in South Australia and it is this context that he enlisted my help.
Shane's sub-branch recently received several medals awarded to Zebulon Ross Jeffery who had an interesting service career. Zeb was obviously a smart man. Once he finished high school he was accepted in to the University of Queensland. Then, in 1944 he enlisted in the RAAF as aircrew. This is the link to his WWII service record. In May 1945 he was re-trained to be a Japanese linguist. Following the end of WWII, Zeb became part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force and stayed in Japan until he was discharged, at the rank of sergeant, in 1947.
In 1967, Zeb enlisted in the Army (RASigs) and served in the Vietnam War. This is the link to his DVA service synopsis. He retired at the rank of major.
The medallion that comes with these medals is in recognition of Zeb's time with Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) as a radio physicist. This link is the obituary the ANARE Club published.
Through a family tree on Ancestry I was able to connect Zeb's son and Shane so that the medals can be returned. The returned medal tally is now 2891.
Hi, Im happy that my efforts to get the medals returned was a success. I got sent a photo of the family when they picked them up and I could not have been more proud. My own father served in the British Army as a Radio Technician and was based in the Sahara Desert along with an Air Base in the UK so the medal's being returned was also very personal for me.
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