3rd Light Horse Regiment KIA

I have a great contact through the Army Museum network who is also involved in the Launceston RSL. This is Pete W and we recently had a discussion about a number of medals which needed to be researched and returned to the families. Pete sent me these medals recently and I hope to publish a number of stories in the near future about the soldiers and their medals.

The first medal from this collection to be returned was awarded to 1396 PTE Wilfred Smith (service recorded to be linked once the NAA has completed website upgrades). Wilfred was a member of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment. He was 31 years old when he enlisted on 27 July 1915. Wilfred was married to Kathleen and they had a baby daughter, Ida Gloria. 

After joining his regiment in early 1916, Wilfred fought in the Battle of Romani. He was killed in action on 4 August 1916. Even though his service record states he was buried in the field and the burial was officiated by a chaplain, he is recorded as having no know grave. Wilfred is commemorated on the Jerusalem War Memorial.

I found Wilfred's details on an Ancestry family tree which is owned by his great grandson. This is Keith who also lives in Tasmania. I'll send him Wilfred's British War Medal in the near future.

The returned medal tally is now 3011.

Laurie Cartwright and a direct family connection to these WWII medals

An advantage of not working full time now is that I can revisit some of the longer term research tasks I have. This afternoon I pulled out the index card for the medals awarded to NX9182 Laurence Cartwright not thinking I would have much success. (There is no link to service record at the moment as the NAA site is having an upgrade this weekend).

I received Laurie's WWII group of five in 2009 from the Directorate of Honours and Awards after they were handed. At the time Laurie's service record had not been digitised on the NAA and there was limited information on Ancestry. Today's review threw up two pieces of information which were the key to contacting Laurie's nephew.

Sometimes, his first name is spelt Lawrence and he had a middle name of Culshaw which only appears once in Australin records. Laurie was born in New Zealand in 1913. He moved to Sydney prior to the outbreak of WWII and was one of the early enlistees as can be seen by his low service number.

After the war, Laurie and his wife, Winifred lived at several address in the Sydney North Shore. Once I worked out his name variations, I came across an Ancestry family tree which it turns out, belongs to Laurie's nephew. This is Chris from New Zealand and the son of Laurie's sister. 

Chris has provided me some great information and family anecdotes. Chris met Laurie and Win when they visited New Zealand in the 1950s. The description Chris gives is that Laurie lived a carefree lifestyle including living for a time on a motor launce on the Hawksbury River.

Chris and his family lived for a while in Sydney and got to now Laurie and Win better. However, tragedy struck when Laurie was killed in 1968/9 while riding his scooter. Chris tells me that even though he retuned to New Zealand in 1973, he remained close to Win until her death in 1990.

It is becoming less common for a family member I contact to have a direct link to WWII veterans. These medals will be sent to Chris in the near future with a whole lot of new information about his uncle once I can access his service record. 

The returned medal tally is now 3010.