This return stated with a message from Allison and ended having followed a path I would never have expected.
Allison's original message provided me with the service details of VF395580 Merle Chave Brown. This name wasn't familiar to Allison who had been given the medal while working in a nursing home in bayside Melbourne in 2012.
I found that Merel was the daughter of Alfred Ernest Brown and Elizabeth Mary Brown (nee Chave). She married Norman Douglas Graham who had been a POW during WWII. Merel and Norm didn't have any children of their own. However, Merel's death notice; she died in 2010, mentions she was an aunt, a great aunt and a great great aunt. This suggested to me that she was from a big extended family and probably still remembered.
Merle's sister, Pearl, had a son who was mentioned on her headstone. This gave me a name, Rodney, to follow. Through the abundance of information available on the internet I worked out Rodney's granddaughter's name. This was all pretty straight forward until I linked this lady to a name in Canberra which is very familiar to me. As it happens, the familiar name belongs to a school mate of mine. Despite us both coming from far off Perth we have both spent meany years in Canberra and bumped into each other on occasion. I fired of a message and sure enough, the young lady I was looking for is the girlfriend of my mate's son.
With this connection made, I was soon in touch with Rodney. He and Allison have met up recently and Merel's WWII medal is back with her family.
The returned medal tally is now 2928
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