Father and son medals

This search was very frustrating. Over several weeks I managed to find snippets of information about Henry William Small and his son Kenneth Andrew Small. However, there was one key piece of information I just couldn't find. That was until the other night where a bit of desperation led me to find the solution.
The Queen's South Africa Medal awarded to William Henry Small and the WWII group awarded to NX152534 Kenneth Andrew Small were sent to me by Lindsay R of the NSW RSL.
I found William's service details on a Boer War research website. He served in the South African Constabulary but these were only basic details. The clasps for his QSA are: 'Transvaal', 'Orange Free State' and 'Cape Colony'. Kenneth's WWII details were also easy to find. That is when I hit the first brick wall.
It wasn't until I entered Kenneth's name in to the British WWI pensions records that I found him listed as the next of kin of Henry William Small, later pages in this record swapped the names around again. Knowing that Henry's first name interchanged with his second name over the years helped considerably. Henry served in the British Army for many years and the last record shows that he was still serving in 1922. He full medal entitlement must have been impressive. In Henry's pension records it states that he was abandoned by this wife - Alice Andrews. Luckily Kenneth's address was given. Using all these details I found the immigration records of Alice and Kenneth when they left England for Australia in 1924.
It was then easy enough to follow them through the electoral rolls up until the 1960s.
Alice died in 1955 and her death notice mentioned Ken and Molly. Molly turned out to be Kenneth's wife Mary but they divorced in 1958 not having had children. I couldn't find a death notice for either Kenneth or Molly so that is when I hit the next brick wall.
Out of desperation I started with different search combinations on Ancestry until I came across a family tree which included Alice Andrews. That was the key I needed. This family tree was very extensive and confirmed what I had surmised. A message to the tree owner was answered tonight and my frustration is over.
The returned medal tally is now 1715.

Vivian Maizey

When the medals awarded to NX163524 Vivian Mervyn Maizey went missing his daughter gave up hope of ever seeing them again.

But after a long search, that started at the Bondi RSL, jumped to Victoria, and ended up back in NSW, where the medals were originally recovered, the medals are home with Vivian’s daughter.
That short description doesn't begin to cover the twists and turns involved in this search.Perhaps the really frustrating part of the search was to be told by a Police Constable that it was an ‘interesting recovery’ and who merely smiled when asked ‘how interesting?’.
The returned medal tally is now 1556.

WW2 RAAF medals

59477 Lawrence Gordon O'Brien served with the RAAF during WWII. His service record isn't on line so other than the listing that his last posting was a repair and servicing unit I couldn't find any further information about what he did. Lawrence and his sons were easy to track through the electoral rolls. That was until 1980.
I knew the first and middle name of Lawrence's grand daughter but not her married name. I found a 1980 electoral roll entry with a person with the same names at an address close to where Lawrence's son lived. Using that initial and surname combination I had a look at the white pages. I found a candidate but the address was different. This morning I took another punt which aid off and was soon speaking to Lawrence's grand daughter. I'll send her the medals in the near future
Thanks to Graham Docksey from the Albury RSL who sent me the medals.
The returned medal tally is now 1533.

WW2 Royal Australian Navy medal group

The four WW2 medals awarded to PA1728 Able Seaman Raymond Hartley Rusby were sent to me by Vicki D about 2 weeks ago. It didn't take me long to work out that Ray was originally from South Australia so I knew there would be a little bit of difficulty find family details as the South Australian records are difficult to access. The give away that Ray was from SA is his service number. The PA stands for Port of Adelaide which was part of the Navy numbering system during the war.
Luckily I came across a family tree which was able to provide me some family names I could also research. This lead me to Ray's brother who lives in Canada and another relative who was able to forward a message to Ray's daughter.
In the near future I'll be forwarding Ray's medals to Cheryl in the same pristine condition they were issued over 60 years ago.
Thank you to Vicki for the medals and Keith and Annette for their assistance.
The returned medal tally is now 1518.

Francis Connolly

I received the WWII War Medal awarded to SX31933 Francis Patrick Connolly from Michael P in May 2014. Fortunately, Francis is included in several family trees on Ancestry.com. From this I was able to determine a relative of Francis and will soon return the medal to the family.
The returned medal tally is now 1496.

Leslie Lewry

6010481 Leslie Lewry saw service in the British Army during WWII for which he was awarded the 1939-45 Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medals and the War Medal. He then served in Palestine as part of the British involvement following WWII. For this Leslie was awarded the General Service Medal. Luckly this medal is named so I was able to start searching for him.
In the 1950s Leslie and his wife Elvery moved to Sydney and eventually settled in Perth. Using the electoral rolls and cemetery records I was able to gain a solid picture of their life in Australia. Unfortunately, they did not have any children.
By going backwards through the British records I established that Leslie had two brothers, Richard and David. It is through David's family that I have locate a family member to return theses medals to. Having focused most of my search in the UK I find that I'll end up sending these medals to Brisbane.
Thanks go to Pam McG who sent me the medals.
This return takes us past a significant milestone. The returned medal tally is now 1401.

Betty Dow

This search really tested me and it was only in the last hour did it unravel enough for me to connect all the dots.
In January 2012 I received a WWII group of four medals and a plaque awarded to Better Frances Dow. The medals are impressed to B3/227 B. F. Dow. The first thing that threw me was the number which does not appear in the WWII nominal roll. I called on the experts of the British Medals Forum and the answer quickly came back as one attributed to the Red Cross and this was a typical number for a philanthropic organisation. So the first door opened I found out all about Betty. She worked with the Red Cross in Batavia and later in Europe. I've found a photo of Betty which I've attached below.
Using the electoral rolls I followed Betty until 1985 when she died. Betty didn't marry. Her brother Stewart did marry but he had no children. Stewart served during WWII and I now know the wider family have strong military links. Then the trail went cold. Several attempts to revisit the search proved fruitless until tonight when I thought I should go back several generations.
I started with Betty's father, Donald, who was a Presbyterian minister. Donald was appointed as an Army chaplain late in WWI but his service record gives little away that I found useful. I couldn't establish the names of any siblings for Donald so I turned to Betty's mother, Winifred Mona Dow. It took some time to work out her maiden name but once I had it the flood gates opened.
Winifred was the daughter of another Presbyterian minister and was one of seven children. A search using the surname Reid gave me all the names of her sibling which included Stanley Spencer Reid.
Stanley was also a minister but probably more famous for his talents as an VFL footballer. He played for Fitzroy in the first VFL grand final. In 1899 Stanley volunteered to be a chaplain for the Australian contingents who fought in the Boer War. This was unsuccessful so he enlisted as a trooper with the Western Australian Mounted Infantry. While in South Africa Stanley wrote a letter that was critical of a more senior soldier and Stanley was arrested. This was soldier was also connected with the Beaker Morrant scandal. Stanley was detained and returned to Australia. The matter was not pursued and Stanley was commissioned and returned to South Africa. He was in the same unit as his brother Surgeon -Captain Francis Bentley Reid. I take it that Betty Francis and Stewart Stanley were named for these two relatives.
Stanley was wounded on two occasions and subsequently died of his wounds in June 1902. He and  Francis were both mentioned in despatches.
This wikipedia link has the full story about Stanley and several photos of him as well.
Another brother who served was Lieutenant John Cecil Drury Reid who was awarded the Military Cross. John was a member of a Tunnelling Company and died of wounds in June 1917.
Another brother was William Bremner Reid who was also a doctor and it is his daughter, Betty's cousin, who I have found and will return the medals to.
The returned medal tally is now 1267.

Betty in Batavia with the Red Cross

Roy Morgan

In recent posts I have spoken about how wonderful it has been to assist the Victorian Police Force on several occasions. This time I have the pleasure of helping out the Western Australian Police Force.
Last week I received an email from Peter W of the Perth Police Station. He had a WWII War Medal and a WWII 60th anniversary commemorative coin  and requested that I have a search for the family.
The medal, awarded to WX41637 Roy Frederick William Morgan, arrived in today's post. This afternoon I had a brief look at Roy's entries in the electoral rolls. This brief look turned in to the whole story unravelling at the rapid rate. I quickly established Roy died in 2002 and that his wife's name was Elsie. A check of the White Pages provided a phone number of a person with the same initials living around the corner from the address listed in the 1980 electoral roll. Always keen to take a punt on leads like this I rang the number and within 5 minutes of deciding to have a brief look at Roy's trail I was speaking to Elsie (sorry Bill).
Elsie tells me that she had been burgled in the past and lost many personal items and money. She wasn't worried about the money but she and her daughters were very upset at the loss of Roy's medals. Now one can be retuned.
The returned medal tally is now 1252.

Thomas Hutchinson

2146A Thomas Hutchinson was initially allocated to 5th Battalion AIF and later moved to 46th Battalion. During his service he was wounded in action twice and went AWOL on two occasions. After discharge Thomas worked as a miner around the Victorian gold fields.
There is very little information about him other than what I could find in the electoral rolls. The next time Thomas appeared in the records was during WWII when he served in a garrison battalion. Thomas did not marry so Bill and I focused our research on his wider family. I have recently been in touch with Jenny, the Great Grand Daughter of Thomas' uncle and I'll soon be sending the medal to her.
For his service in WWI Thomas was awarded the usual trio of the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and the Victory Medal. For his service during WWII in a garrison battalion he would have been awarded two more medals, the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45. Where the rest of Thomas' medals are is anyone's guess.
Thank you to Mike R of Bendigo who sent Thomas' BWM to me. The returned medal tally is now 1214.

Mildred Evaline Vaughan

This is a fascinating story which I'll let Bill tell. 

'The Vaughan story began when I was approached by the President of a Melbourne RSL Sub-Branch. The Club had been given a collection of medals, the result of a collector deciding to pursue another hobby. The President, while willing to accept the medals, felt that there should an examination into how the medals came to be sold in the first, and so the story began.

Invariably when we ring a next of kin of the recipient of the medals we hold, and after having explained who and what we are doing, we are most often met with the comments "Dad's medals. They have been missing for years. Where did you find them?"

It is not unusual that as we pass through our research, we swing backwards and forwards, where we sometimes think we have taken not the expected two steps back, but rather we are back again at the beginning of our search. Often trying to work out how we got it wrong by proceeding down one path, when you probably should have ignored it altogether.

But never, until I started the search for the family of VF510178 Mildred Evaline Vaughan had I been met when calling with the words "What medals? Mum didn't have medals. Dad yes, but Mum no". Then the second question; "Where did you get them? The answer to that question is usually short, but the answer to; "How did you find me?" is the one that takes up the time.

So then came the first part of the answer explanation that Mildred had served during WW2 in the Army, and as such she was eligible for the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-1945.

 The second part was a bit more complicated. Several years ago a medal collector tiring of collecting medals and having lost the enthusiasm for his hobby faced with the problems associated with selling his collection, gave them to a Melbourne RSL. An incoming President asked me if it would be possible to do an audit of the medals, in particular their background and where had they come from.

Perhaps the most pleasing part of the search was for it to end with a successful conclusion. A search that was began in March 2010 was completed this week when Mildred's medals were presented to her daughter Jane.

Mildred's family had a tradition of Military Service, her father Lieutenant Percy William Vaughan, served with the 1st Australian Service Squadron in South Africa during the Boer War from 1900 to 1901. During WW1 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the defence of the Newcastle Port.

Source:  http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/A05152

Lieutenant Percy William Vaughan 

Originally the Manager of City Bank, Braidwood, NSW, Percy received 5 bars to his Queen's South Africa Medal and was Mentioned in Despatches.

His son Kenneth Montague Vaughan served as a Captain during WW2.

His other daughter, Phyllis, married a Royal Naval Commander.

So it was in this tradition that Mildred joined the Army during WW2.

As for the search itself, well it took the assistance of the team at the Australian Surname Group and many many hours in the State library of Victoria, carefully trolling over old newspapers and electoral rolls. I followed the progress from Melbourne to Perth where Mildred met and married William Hudson in 1946. Mildred returned to Melbourne to live after the death of her husband. 

But the question does remain where have the medals been all this time? And who had them court mounted. As I explained to Jane, I don't know and I guess we probably never will, but what is more important is that the medals are home with Mildred's family.'

The returned medal tally is now 1202.

William Best Merchant Navy

I received the WWII British War medal awarded to William Best in March and ran into immediate brick walls. Yesterday, I decided to have a close look at Best to see what I could come up with and today the full story unravelled in my lap.
There is only one person with the surname Best who served in the MN and the only additional clue was that he received a British Empire Medal (Civil Division). That led me down a very interesting path. William was from Clydebank in Scotland and from an early age joined the merchant navy. His family moved to South Australia around 1925.
The first piece of information about the BEM was this entry from the London Gazette (click on the image for a larger view).

Source - London Gazette

 I then found the story of the MV Melbourne Star which was the vessel that William was on when he was attacked. This link has great details about the sinking. This is a picture of Bill in hospital after he was rescued and the story about his ordeal from the Adelaide Advertiser (click on the image for a larger view).

Photo source - http://www.melbournestar.co.uk/Survivors.html  courtesy Julia Nunn

Source - Trove

This story, also from the Adelaide Advertiser, gives much more detail about Bill's survival (click on the image for a larger view).

Source - Trove

This card is from the AWM collection showing Bill's award of the BEM. What it gave me was his address and from there I could move forward with the research (click on the image for a larger view).

Source AWM collection

Unfortunately, the South Australian records are the least accessible of all Australian states so Bill and I asked the Australian Surname Group to have a look at this for us. Very quickly we had the names of Bill's siblings and their children. Based on this information I was able to then put together a family tree. One name was easy to research and as it turns out he was an officer in the Royal Australian Navy for many years. Through the electoral rolls I followed him through to 1980, including when he lived at an address about 400 m from where I lived in 1977. Once I had a name the rest was pretty easy and this afternoon I spoke to Bill's nephew, Ken.
Ken tells me that Bill married late in life but didn't have any children of his own. Even though Bill's medals were supposed to go to Ken this didn't occur but now the War Medal will be returned.

Thanks to Andrew C for sending the medal to me originally. The returned medal tally is now 1192.

Albert Cullen - WWII War Medal

This return has led to a rather amazing story.
I received the WWII War Medal awarded to 19223 Chief Petty Officer Albert Frederick Cullen in the mail yesterday. Within 30 seconds of opening the parcel I had found Albert on an Ancestry family tree so a message went straight off to the tree owner. I received a reply today from Albert's grand daughter and much to my surprise I learnt that Albert is alive and very well, aged 102.
Albert enlisted in 1929 and this link is to his service record. He served in the RAN until 1951.
From the electoral rolls on Ancestry I was able to trace Albert and his family as they moved around various Navy postings until they settled in Rosebud, Victoria. I lost all track of him in the late 1970s. From his family I now know that in retirement he had a desire to play bowls all year round so moved to the Northern Coast of NSW. This was at the same time as the online electoral rolls cease which explains why I lost the trail. In more recent years Albert has moved back to Victoria.
I've spoken to Albert's daughter, Faye, and his grand daughter, Carolyn, who have told me about his current links to the Scouts. Albert was a Scout in his younger days and as Carolyn said 'once a Scout always a Scout'. So at aged 102 Albert is probably one of the oldest Scouts still alive and has recently been involved with a local Scout investiture.
Carolyn has also provided me with a photo of Albert which I've added below the picture of his medal.
Thank you to Marcia S from Charlestown NSW who sent the medal to me in the first place.
The returned medal tally is now 1168.

James Worthington - WWII medals

As I said in my last post, every now and then we revisit old research to see if there is anything new.
Today I had a fresh look at the medals awarded to NX5179 James Edward Worthington. Bill had some information and to quote him the research was a 'shambles'. We had differing dates of birth for Worthington from different sources which complicated things but this wasn't uncommon for the time.
I couldn't work out exactly which James Edward Worthington I was looking for in the NSW electoral rolls as there were a few chaps with exactly the same name living in roughly the same areas of Sydney. The only fact I had was that James' NOK on the nominal roll was Isabel. On a hunch I looked at her history.
There was no record of a marriage or death on the NSW births, death and marriages website to a couple with these names so this stumped me. However, I did find the death of an Isabella Worthington on the Ryerson Index. Based on the date of death I found the death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1968. The notice confirmed this was James' wife and it also gave me the names of their two sons.
This took me back to the electoral rolls on Ancestry and based on knowing the name Isabella I was able to pin point the Worthington family and get the full name of one son. This in turn lead me to a family tree on Ancestry.
10 minutes after sending a message to the tree owner I had a reply telling me that I had the correct family. This family has a strong military heritage with the husband of one of James' grand daughters having fought at the Battle of Coral during the Vietnam War.
After receiving these medals in October 2010 and running in to brick wall after brick wall for many months this search took a little over two hours from the time I had another look at it. Poor Bill, each time I asked him a question about his research I either worked out the answer myself or found information that made the question redundant.
These medals are from the NSW RSL Box and the returned medal tally is now 1164.

I've shown the medals exactly how they came to me. The mounting is very crude and the War Medal is around the wrong way. The full group consists of the War Medal the Defence Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45.

Harold Wilfred Casey - British War Medal

I received the BWM awarded awarded to 238 Harold Wilfred Casey (to access the service record follow the steps in this tutorial) in yesterday's post and became very engrossed in searching for his family. After close to five hours of research I've located the family. Not the fastest bit of work but certainly rather quicker than average.
Harold was born in Bowral NSW, a lovely town which we often go through when travelling between Canberra and Sydney. He had two brothers and four sisters, however one brother died in 1896 aged 10. In the early 1900s he moved to WA with his parents, one brother and one sister. The remaining sisters stayed in NSW, they all married but I could find no evidence of them having had any children.
Harold was initially allocated to the 4th Machine Gun Company but later moved to 16th Battalion, AIF. Harold was killed in action on 4 February 1918. His brother George also served with 16th Battalion during WWI and was a POW of the Germans. He later served during WWII.
Harold's Will names his sister Eileen as his beneficiary but I had some trouble working out if she married. What confused me for a bit was that George's NOK during WWII was listed as T. Stapler. This sent me on a wild goose chase until I stumbled on a marriage in WA of an E. Casey to a T Staples. A bit of cross checking confirmed that the NOK on the WWII nominal roll was misspelt so it was the Staples family I was looking for. Once this was confirmed the search was straight forward. I found the names of Eileen and Thomas' Staples children and a browse of the White Pages offered two possibility. I took yet another punt and sure enough I ended up speaking to the right family. During this conversation I was able to confirm that George didn't have any children so there is no one of the Casey line left. The medal will be forwarded to the family in the near future.
Thanks to Rodney D who sent me the medal.
The returned medal tally is now 1144.

WWII group of 5 medals to RAN

This group consists of the 1939-45 Star, the Pacific Star, the Defence Medal, the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45. The medals were awarded to W1265 Able Seaman James Robert Carr. Carr's service record is also available on the NAA. (To access the service record follow the steps in this tutorial.)
Carr's medals were found in Queensland in 2005, they were then handed in to the Queensland Police who forwarded them to the Directorate of Honours and Awards. The medals were sent to me in 2010. Most of the leads we had ran to nothing and Bill put a post on the Australian Surname Group. Carr's grandson, Ben, came across the entry and got in touch with us.
I'll put the medals in the post next week so that they are with Ben by Anzac Day.
The returned medal tally is now 1116.

WWII groups to Leslie and William Searle

In January 2011 I received an interesting parcel of medals and other military items. The other items included a RAN service record, Returned of Active Service Badge, dog tag and ribbon bars. These were all for two brothers, William Thomas Searle and Leslie John Searle.
William served in the RAAF with the number 34543 and Leslie in the RAN with the number S3594. As part of my research I learned that Leslie was known as Jack and after the war was a police officer with the NSW Police Force. Jack's service record is available on the NAA web site, here. The medals awarded to William are the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45. I suspect they are his full entitlement and are in their box of issue. The medals awarded to Jack are the 1939-45 Star the Pacific Star, the War Medal and the Australian Service Medal 1939-45. Stars awarded tot eh RAN were issued un-named as can be seen in the second picture.
The medals and other items will be returned to Jack's daughter. William didn't have any children of his own and his medals will remain with Jack's medals. Thanks to Joe D who originally sent me the medals.
The returned medal tally is now 1101.