Eric Fry MM

One of the surprises that I found in the Grafton Box was a Military Medal awarded to SJT Eric Rosewarne Fry. I thought that with that name the search would be on the easy side; how wrong was I?
Eric's WWI British medal card threw up all sort of complications. Firstly, Eric was a Sapper in the Divisional Engineers, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. His number was originally 149 but later changed to 207416. At some point Eric was reallocated to the Royal Engineers and awarded the Military Medal. I couldn't find the award citation or the date of the action but the London Gazette date is 22 Feb18.
Later in 1918 Eric was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Reserve Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. The medal card indicates that Eric was also awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Then the search got difficult.
Eric was 24 when the war ended and at some point he married May Dickerson Foster. Eric died on 12 May 1957.
May remarried, this time to a US citizen, Carroll Milan. After that there was a gap of about 40 years in the records until, very much to my surprise, I discovered that May died in Sydney on 15 Oct 98. At least that explained how Eric's MM turned up in Australia.
My search then focused on Eric's brother Donald Bernard Fry. Though a tree I found on Ancestry I've been able to have a messaged passed to one of Donald's daughters and I'll soon send Eric's MM back to the UK. Nigel D from Chatham, Kent has been very helpful in this search and will also be the go between to return the medal.
The returned medal tally is now 2281

Edward Roy Harding

There is so much to the story of this soldier which can not be told so the only details from Bill's most recent success is what is on the public record.
3041 2nd Corporal Edward Roy Harding was in the 5th Engineer Company, AIF and then later the Australian Army Pay Corps. He was wounded twice and very late in the war he was awarded the Military Medal. This link is to the recommendation for the Military Medal.
Following WWI Edward wasn't done with serving his country. He served in the RAAF as a Flying Officer.
This medal is Edward's WWII War Medal.
The returned medal tally is now 2115.

The full story of the three medal groups to one family

This is the full story of the medals that I previously posted under the heading of Three Medals Groups to One Family. The tale is now continued by Bill:

One of the enduring relationships that we have formed is with the RSL and Australia Post. It was from these two organisations that this search originated. As long term readers will know that when the take on some cases from statutory bodies there or often details that we are unable to publish. Therefore, I ask that you excuse any gaps you might perceive and use your imagination.
Like many searches involving the Victorian RSL this one started with a call and follow up email from Jude Beshears from Anzac House in Melbourne. She had several sets of medal to for me to research. A call and email, this was unusual and really piqued my interest. A further call from Elizabeth Manning, also of the RSL, and the accompanying comment that one medal has the word 'For Bravery in the Field' on it really got my attention. So much so that I broke a long held rule that I don't drive in to the city. Well I did and have now determined that I'll invest in a parking garage rather than a house.
What a collection of medals I was presented with on arrival and I now realise why Jude and Elizabeth wanted to call me personally.
The medal groups were those to:
797 PTE Alfred Hampton Carr, 5th Machine Gun Battalion and comprised the Military Medal, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
2050 PTE Robert Alexander Carling, 39th Battalion comprising the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
418801 LAC Charles Ernest Carling comprising the 1939-45 Star, the Pacific Star, the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1935-49.
My immediate reaction was to link the Carling medals as most likely that of father and son. The Carr medals didn't immediately appear to be linked but as they were all found together they may have been.
In many ways my searches begin with a simple well laid down process. One I've had described to me as boring, but it works and I think the simplicity stops me jumping to any conclusions that would later lead me astray. This process sees me go through the records available through the AWM and the Australian National Archives. I quietly read these and try to establish a family tree. I then move on to War Graves to establish a date of death. Then it is a cemetery search which might lead me down the road to knowing which funeral director conducted the burial. If this is the case I might get lucky and the funeral home is willing to contact the family. Then, as I've said before, I might resort to sheer desperation and spend long hours at the Victorian State Library.
In this case I could easily confirm the Carling medals were from the same family but Carr drew a blank. The Carlings were from Victoria but Carr was from South Australia and the paucity of information in the South Australian Records frustrated me.
So I began working backwards from who I thought was the youngest being Charles. While I found his grave many of the other records associated with his death and burial were no longer available.
So it was back to my simple process to trawl through the electoral rolls, Trove and the last option of the State Library. A combination of these three and a bit of luck, well a lot of luck, and some back ground information from the original recovery, that lead me to Charles' widow, Norma. 
It was Norma who, between pauses to blow her nose, provided the key information that bought together the beginning and conclusion of this search. Later the same day I spoke to Norma's daughter, Leslie, to arrange the return of the medals. Like Norma, Leslie was also blowing her nose. The reason given was that they both had a cold and I think I'll let them stick to that story.
When I spoke to Norma and Leslie I got the full story about the medals. Robert Albert Carling was the grandfather of Charles Ernest Carling. Alfred Hampton Carr was Robert's nephew making him Charles' uncle.
Norma also told me that she was burgled 9 months ago. Indeed, Norma disturbed the burglars who fled with the medals, her jewelry and some family papers. Other items like her laptop and TV had been made ready to go. The police offered little hope for the recover of any item but after the papers were left n her letterbox she held out hope that just maybe the medals would be recovered.
The photos show the medals Alfred Carr, the citation for his MM and the ladies and Bill discussing the medals.

 

Three medal groups to one family

There is not much that we can actually tell about this story. What I can say is that nine medals, one being the Military Medal, to three generations of the same family will soon be returned. Bill did a fantastic job putting all the pieces together.
The returned medal tally is now 1453.

Hamilton - ASM 1939-45

I've mentioned in the past the wonderful relationship I have with the Directorate of Honours and Awards. This particular search was a referral from Tony at Honours and Awards.
The medal they have asked me to look at is the Australian Service Medal 1939-45 awarded to NX52651 James Gibb Hamilton.
The search started easy enough but as I looked at the electoral rolls on Ancestry, I found a number of people with the same unusual name living in different states at the same time. There were a couple of death notices on Trove and in the Sydney Morning Herald that relate to this family and initially it was very confusing. However, I found a phone number in the white pages with the right initial and name combination so I took a punt and gave the number a call. I ended up speaking to the cousin of James who was able to direct me towards another cousin (James' brother). During this first conversation I was able to assist the gentleman by providing him a copy of his father's British Army medal card from WWI.
As part of my research I found out that James' father had received the Military Medal during WWI. He was 5114 Archibald Hamilton and served in the 2nd Battalion, AIF. His service record is 108 pages long and makes very interesting reading as Archie was classified as a deserter after the war concluded when he returned to his birth place in Scotland to see his family. This was eventually resolved and his medal entitlement was reinstated.
This is the family connections I worked out to find James' brother Ferguson:
- James Gibb Hamilton (1) and Agnes Campbell Hamilton had six children including; Archibald Ferguson (1), James Gibb (2) and Ferguson (1).
- Archibald (1) also had a number of children including; James Gibb(3), Ferguson (2) and Archibald (2).
- Ferguson (1) had two sons; James Gibb (4) who served as VX69392 and Ferguson (3).
It is James Gibb(3) who I was looking for. James Gibb(3) married but had no children. He died in the 70s. His brother Ferguson (2) is still alive and I'll be returning the medal to him.
The death notices that helped me unravel this are at these links:
Agnes Campbell Hamilton
Archibald Hamilton
I hope the links work and it is a bit of a search on the page to find each notice. I must admit I did a double take when I came across Archie's service record as this is the name of the main character played my Mark Lee in the film Gallipoli.
The medal should arrive in the post next week and then I'll add a photo. Thanks to John and Andrew from the RAN who forwarded this medal to Honours and Awards in the first place. The medal returned tally is now 1106.
Post update 2 April 2012
I've now added a photos of this medal.

Military Medal and Plaque

For a few weeks we have been researching the Military Medal (MM) awarded to 4346 Granville Victor Johnson. Bill, with Leonie's help, recently located the family of this soldier and the medal has been sent to me to forward on to the family. With the MM was the Memorial Plaque presented to the family after Johnson was KIA on 14 Sep 18. This now takes the medals returned total to 446.