Pacific Star - Frederick Jones

This Pacific Star was one of those included in the NSW RSL box. It was awarded to N467913 Frederick Arthur Jones. We have had a look at this one in the past but ran in to a few brick walls. I recently decided to have a closer look and combine information from Ancestry.com, The National Library of Australia, the Ryerson Index and the NSW BDM. No one resource gave me close to the full picture so I had to make some extensive notes from the different documents and links that I found.
After all that is got down to taking yet another punt. I knew the address that the Jones family lived in through the 1940s and 50s. This was in a smallish NSW town so I had a look in the White Pages not expecting too much since Jones is a common name. That was until I saw that there was a Jones living at the address next door. A quick check of the electoral rolls showed that this Mr Jones had been in the same house since 1954. If he wasn't related he must have at least known the Jones family I was looking for.
When I called this morning I found he was the brother of Frederick.
This medal is a officially issued duplicate as can be seen by the 'D' under the number and name. By the style and method of naming I estimate that this duplicate was issued in the late 1980s or 1990s.
The returned medal tally is now 1126.

Late issue WWII medals

These two medals come with a very interesting story. The 1939-45 Star and Australian Service Medal pictured below were awarded to H2896 David James Harold Hicks.
When they arrived in the mail I was very surprised to see that the box was a modern issue from the Directorate of Honours and Awards and not of 1950 vintage. Then I looked at the naming and saw is was laser engraved. I know that this method of engraving started after 1992 so the medals were issued after that year.
One of the reference books I use is Australians Awarded by Clive Johnson. In this book Clive provides excellent information about naming styles and different variants of the same medal. As it turns out the ASM has three types. The first type was issued from 1952, when stocks of this type ran out a type 2 was produced and eventually a type 3. There a subtle difference between the three types but when you know what to look for it is easy to work out which type it is.
The ASM to Hicks was the first type so I suspected that it was issued in the mid to late 1990s. There is no duplicate marking so it is an initial issue. What is also unusual, which can be seen in the pictures, is that the medal is named in the following sequence: Initials, Name then Number which is different from earlier times when the Number is first.
While searching for Hicks I ran in to the usual brick walls. Even though his service record was available on line it gave little information, except for one very important clue, his wife's name is Pauline. Based on this I spent a few hours using Ancestry to track the family. Unfortunately, there was only one electoral roll entry for David in 1954 and nothing for Pauline.
The next clue I got was a suburban war memorial entry which provided David's date of death in 1995 and then the trail went very cold. It was time to take a few punts. The Tasmanian birth, death and marriage indexes are not on line and cost a fee to access so that was out of the question. So, I looked for any burial information and came across a Hobart cemetery which listed David's burial. It also gave the suburb where he lived. A further search did not show that Pauline was buried in the same cemetery. I started to wonder if she might still be alive.
I took another punt and found a P Hicks listed in the White Pages who lived in the same suburb so I rang the number and sure enough I had found the family.
As it turns out, after David died his daughter noticed an anomaly with David's medals so she wrote to Honours and Awards. This was in the late 90s. The medals were then issued, however, I now know they were incorrectly addressed. They eventually came to me and thanks goes to Carole and Michael for wanting to see the medals go to the correct family.
The returned medal tally is now 1073.

Duplicate, Replacement, Replica and Copy Medals - Post Update

In recent weeks I've had an increased number of questions asked of me about how to apply for official replacement or where to purchase copy medals. Also, my blog statistics show many more web searches about this topic.
I've update the post on Duplicate, Replacement, Replica and Copy medals to make the photos a bit clearer by highlighting the 'REPLICA' markings. I've also added a photos to show an example of a copy medal.

Arthur Hadler

I have recently received a parcel from a retirement home in Victoria which contained six medals and other memorabilia from service during WWII. The medals were awarded to VX143861 Arthur Richard Hadler. Mr Hadler died in 2010 and from information I received from the retirement home and what I could piece together from newspaper entries, Hadler had no immediate family still living. I cast the net a bit wider and found a member of the Hadler family to return the medals to.
What makes this group interesting is that the medals are an official duplicate set. They are marked with a (D) and are lazer engraved rather than impressed as the originals would have been. As well as the standard WWII group, there is an Australian Service Medal 45-75 which I know was issued to Hadler in 2007. I suspect that at some point Hadler has lost his original medals and applied for a duplicate set and as a result the ASM 45-75 was also issued.
The pictures show the naming style and the duplicate D marking.
The returned medal tally is now 884.

Duplicate, Replacement and Replica or Copy Medals

One of the most common questions I am asked is how to obtain replacement medals.
The first thing to understand is the terminology that is being used. Duplicate medals are those which are officially provided by the Government when originals have been lost. These are also know as Replacement medals. The duplicate/replacement medal is named like the original but there is a 'D' stamped on the medal to indicate that it is an official duplicate. Some times an 'R' may be stamped on the medal. I've added a couple of  photos below as an example.

In most circumstances only the serviceman can apply for official duplicate medals. Once the serviceman has died it is usually the policy that medals will not be replaced. However, there is some flexibility being applied at the moment after many medals were lost in recent natural disasters in Australia. The policy and the application process for replacement of lost medals can be found on the Defence Honours and Awards web site.

That being said, there are replica (or reproduction or copy) medals available for purchase. I don't endorse any particular company but examples of replica medals can be seen here. Replica medals should be marked somewhere with the word 'replica' or 'copy'. There are some photos below to illustrate what I mean.

When medals have been lost for a couple of generations and it is unlikely that the originals will ever be found the acquisition of replica medals for display purposes is popular.

These photos are of replicas of the Australian Defence Medal and the Australian Active Service Medal. The photos were updated on 17 Jul 11 with the REPLICA mark highlighted.

This is a photo of a medals marked COPY. They have also been engraved with the soldiers service details.