Harry Smith - WWI Trio

The WWI trio of medals awarded to Harry Smith was sent to me recently by John and Sue W from Knoxfield, Victoria. Along with the medals was the Anzac commemorative lapel badge and Harry's TPI card. Beyond the information in Harry's service record I could find nothing on him so I asked Bill to use his sources and see what could be dug up. This is Bill's story to locate Harry's family. The retuiened medal tally is now 1317.

 

The search for the family of Harry Smith started with a request from Glyn to look up and see what if anything I could find in regard to a 939 Harry Smith, 28^th Battalion, A.I.F.

This was the beginning of the first headache. War Graves had no record of a Harry Smith.

Fortunately, I was able to advise War Graves, of a few more details in regard to Harry, this brought forth the amazing fact that Harry Smith, had been christened as Harry, enlisted as Harry, served and been discharged as Harry, had through some odd changes and omissions in details, been buried as Henry Smith. However, this did give me a date of death and a date to research through the Melbourne newspapers. All that could be read from the microfiche was a reference to a wife ‘Emma’. However as Harry had enlisted in Perth, using these few details in fact only one detail, a wife called Emma, I accessed the Reverse Marriage Website, and lo and behold there it was Harry Smith marrying Emma in Perth in 1918.

It would then take some time to chase down this lead until the final conclusion that I had been following the wrong Harry and Emma. So back to the BDM, CD’s and another Harry Smith this one marrying an Emma, in 1942, in Victoria. This in turn would require some research until I could prove without fail, that this was the right Harry and Emma.

Marrying late in life, Harry and Emma had no children. Eventually a long and detailed search brought me to the conclusion that if anyone was to receive Harry’s medals, then they would have to come from Emma’s family. But it couldn’t just be anyone, that someone would have to not only be willing to accept the guardianship of the medals, but also ensure that the story they represented, was passed to the next generation, along with guardianship of Harry’s medals.

So began the next phase of the search. Again, TROVE, the Victorian State BDM’s and the Electoral Roll, Ryerson and the State Archives came to the fore, in helping map out Emma’s extended family of six brothers and four sisters.

And then their subsequent marriages, and the birth of their children. It was this long and at times tedious process that brought me to Kenneth Jenvey, Harry’s nephew, and the keeper of the family tree. It was Ken who in turn put me in contact with his daughter, Leanne and her husband, who together have taken on the responsibility of maintaining the family tree that Ken has produced. As well as collecting and publishing the detailed military history of all of the members of the Jenvey family.

Were they the right people to choose? This is a question I always ask myself when returning medals, particularly when it is not a direct descendant, and there are several options.

Well, Ken’s wife has just concluded a War Remembrance project of finding photographs, having them framed and then displayed of all the young men from Wodonga West, who enlisted to serve during World War 2. Did we find the right family? I think so.

Albert McNamee

1030 Temporary Sergeant Albert Leslie McNamee served in the 6th Light Horse Regiment. He initially joined the regiment in October 1915 at Gallipoli and later fought in Palestine. In 1917 he received a gunshot wound and was admitted to hospital. In March 1918 he was awarded the Military Medal. Unfortunately, his service record does not detail for which action the medal was awarded. Albert also served during WWII before dying in 1951. Albert's medal entitlement would have been at least:
The Military Medal,
The 1914-15 Star,
The British War Medal,
The Victory Medal (which I was sent),
TheWar Medal (WWII)
The Australian Service Medal 1939-45

The search for Albert's turned out to be very straight forward. He was from a very small town in NSW and from the NSW Births, Deaths and Marriage records it didn't appear that he married. Using the same records I established that his brother was named Walter Clifford McNamee. I then took the search to the electoral rolls and worked out that in 1936 Walter lived in a rural community in the same district that Albert came from. A search of the White Pages revealed that there was a person by the name of  McNamee listed in that town. 15 minutes after starting the search for Albert's family I was speaking to the wife of his nephew. She was able to confirm that Albert did not marry. Albert's great nephew is his closest living relative and I'll post the medal to the family shortly. Thanks to John S who sent me the medal in the first place.

 

Update 11 Sep 13

Albert's MM citation is as follows:

"For bravery on the battle field. Trooper McNamee was in charge of a section on observation duty, and under heavy fire he brought the guns to bear on the enemy, which enabled his squadron to take up a position".

Sidney Whaite

6133 PTE Sidney George Whaite, served with the 32 Battalion, AIF. His service record shows that he was diagnosed with shell shock but little else. However, there are copies of letter from the lady who would late become his wife included in the record as well as from others interested in his well being. The letters are quite touching.
Thank you to Neville C who sent me the medals. These medals are in as issued condition and have never been mounted for wear. The medal returned tally is now 1314.

Gerald White

This is another example of the wonderful relationship I have with the different RSL State Branches.
The WWI medals awarded to 4628 Corporal Gerald Edwin White were sent to me by the WA State Branch about two weeks ago.
Gerald served with 11th Battalion AIF, and was gassed while in France. 11th Battalion has been mentioned before in this blog. Gerald was from the South West of WA and farmed around the Williams area. Gerald died in 1972, however, his wife Irene died in 2005 having lived to 106.
My search followed Gerald's son Ian from Williams to Perth and then on to his sons Craig and Glenn. From the electoral rolls I knew that the family lived in Dianella for some time. However, with over 100 listings for either G or C White in the white pages the task looked daunting. With no listings in Dinaella with either Glenn or Craig's middle initial I went one suburb either side of Dinaella. I first tried Morley and sure enough there was a person with the same initial. Taking a punt I called the number and so often happens an educated guess paid off.
I've now spoken to Craig and I'll send him his grand father's medals and other personal items (pictured) in the near future. Thanks must go to Rod B who originally handed the medals in and to Wendy at the WA RSL who sent the medals to me. The returned medal tally is now 1312.

Updated 14 Sep 13
Thank you very much to the family of Gerald White for allowing me to use these photos of Gerald in 1915 aged 19 and with his wife Irene.

 

Another dog tag

The recent success with the McCarthy dog tag has bought more of these lost items out of the wood work. Today I received an email about a dog tad that was found near Newcastle NSW. I immediately recognised it as a current issue one and within minutes was able to send an email the serviceman it belongs to and connect him with the finder. That is really all the information I can provide but another success.
The returned medal tally is now 1312.

Cecil Hayes

My search for the family of Cecil John Harold Hayes began with an email from Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper. They had been contacted by Mr Cedric Brown who had seen an article about the McCarthy dog tag and wondered if I might be able to assist with a medal.
I rang Cedric who for more than 12 months had been searching for Cecil's family. He had received some assistance from other researchers but with no success.
Cecil enlisted for WWI on 2 occasions (link to service record). Firstly in July 1915 with the number 3836 and allocated to 23rd Battalion. He was discharged as medically unfit on 21 Feb 16. The photo below shows a very young Cecil when at the Broadmedaows Camp outside of Melbourne.

 
Just 2 months later Cecil enlisted again this time with the number 25874 and allocated to the 2nd Australian Light Railway Operating Company. He was eventually discharged on 14 Mar 19. His service record numbers 81 pages and there is a lot of correspondence about his medals and confusion surrounding their issue. I suspect that they went to one of his parents and Cecil never actually received them.
Fortunately, there is a family tree on Ancestry.com.au and 15 minutes after I started the search I had sent a message off to the tree owner. As it turned out it belonged to Cecil's daughter. I'll now arrange for each Cedric to send the medal back to Cecil's daughter.
Well done Cedric for not giving up the search. The returned medal tally is now 1311.

Duncan Lawson update

Duncan's great niece, Bec, has allowed me to post me the attached photo of Duncan which he sent to his mother from Palestine. Thank you Bec.

Updated on 14 Sep 13
Bec has also kindly provided the copy of a newspaper clipping about Duncan being wounded in action.

Cyril McCarthy update 2

The press have really jumped on the story of Cyril McCarthy's lost WWI dog tag. This story was in today's Sunday Telegraph, written by Ian McPhedran.

This link is to a similar story in the Mercury.

Duncan Lawson

Since 2006 I've had a Tobruk Siege commemorative medal which was sent to me by the Queensland RSL. This medal was produced by the Rats of Tobruk Association to acknowledge the part they played in the slowing down of Rommel's forces and the eventual defeat of the Axis forces in North Africa. Many WWII medal groups include this commemorative medal although it is not an official medal.
The Tobruk Siege commemorative medal I received has the name D Lawson on the back. There is no service number so I could never be 100% sure which D Lawson I was looking for. Today, I received an email which put all the pieces in place.
The email came from the great niece of QX6996 Duncan Allan Lawson whose name is Bec. She came across our listing of lost medals on the Lost Medals Australia website. Bec tells me that all Duncan's medals were lost to the family in Queensland where this medal came from. A review of the WWII nominal roll showed that I could eliminate many potential candidates by this initial and name combination due to their enlistment date or other factors. This narrowed the search down to two soldiers and it was Duncan's unit that confirmed for me that we had the right man. I'll forward the medal to Bec in the near future.
The returned medal tally is now 1310.

Gus Cahill

Another great story about Bill's research and the return of three more medals. The returned medal tally is now 1309.

One of the important elements of a successful search to locate the owner of medals is how and where they were ‘found’. In this case even though I have returned the medals, there are as many unanswered questions as answered.

The initial request for help came from Veterans Affairs, who had been contacted in regard to the war medals of a Sergeant Augustine (Gus) Cahill, whose medals had been found in 1968. Over the intervening years various groups it appears had attempted to return them but with no success. The last holder of the medals who had them for 4 years, had given up. Would we, Lost Medals Australia, enquired Veterans Affairs, be willing to look at the issue.

From preliminary research it soon developed that the medals mentioned did belong to Sergeant Cahill. However, the medals in question the 1939-1945 War Medal, The Defence Medal, and The Australian Active Service Medal, made up possibly half of the medals Gus would have received for his WW2 service.

Gus served with the 2/1 Field Company during WW2, discharging in October 1945. He would later re-join after having ‘fiddled’ his date of birth, reducing it by two years so he could serve in Korea as an infantryman with 3 Battalion RAR.

So where were the other two additional medals he should have received for his Korean War service?

At this point you will note the condition of the medals, someone had cleaned them with an abrasive cloth. This scratching even includes the inscription on the bevel. Enquires as to who had done the cleaning proved fruitless. It was all a case of ‘before my time’.

Now began the search in earnest. From War Graves came his date of death, 10 October 1984, however, the whereabouts of the death was unknown. Ryerson our first port of call, had no entries.

As he had been living in and around Mount Isa, I chose this as my starting place, and fortunately I found his grave. I also found another that then led me to believe there was a possibility Gus had married at some time. But had he? This is one of the problems we always face as we search through a family, we cannot second guess. The return of the medals is too important. It would take several Interstate phone calls, one letter, and countless emails over 2 month before I could confirm that Gus had never married.

Having hit the brick wall, and now accepting that Gus had not married, and therefore the possibility of an heir having evaporated, I then chose to go back and look to Gus’ family tree. And what a tree it turned out to be, Gus was the youngest of 7 brothers. More importantly all the brothers had been born in Victoria, and when their father moved to Sydney, NSW, they all followed.

It was from Trove that I found and read Gus’ mother’s death notice which included the names of her three surviving sons, Gus, Frederick and Raymond.

Trove the online newspaper data base when coupled with the Second World War Nominal Roll, and the RyersonIndex, make up a powerful search combination, if one has the patience to work through, what at times seems a daunting list of newspaper articles.

This in turn brought me to his surviving brothers Fred and Ray, their subsequent marriages and sadly their passing. It was from these latter two dates that I eventually found Frederick’s wife Jeanette.

At this time Jeanette went into care and I lost contact. It was quite some time before I was able to contact Susan her daughter, Gus’ niece and to whom the medals will be returned.

In the meantime I have written on behalf of Susan to the Department of Defence, Honours and Awards Section to find out if Gus’ Korean War Medals were ever issued.

A postscript: Rarely do I go back at the end of a search, to try and see if I can find out something about the history and travels of the lost medals.

Eventually the following stories came to light.

One non-attributable story is that the medals were stolen during the school holidays by a group who were suspected of being involved in running a burglary operation. Perhaps this could explain why only three ‘silver’ medals were recovered, these being one person’s share The rest could well have been split up among the others in the group.

Another also non-attributable story was that a parent ‘confiscated’ them, and not knowing what to do, put them in a drawer where they stayed for many years. At this point common sense told me to stop, I stopped.

But in closing can I say that from 1968 to 2013 is a long time for something that has been ‘found’ to remain ‘missing'.

Cyril McCarthy - an update

The story about Cyril McCarthy's dog tag has gone viral, in a medium size way. As a result of the successfully location of Cyril's grand son, Jennifer King has written another story which was published on ABC online today. The McCarthy family has supplied a photo of Cyril on his wedding day and of his WWI medals.

Albert RN

This another cracking yarn from Bill which takes the returned medal tally to 1306.

 

After the return of medals when either Glyn or I sit down to write the story, the decision on how far to go on the personal side is always uppermost in our minds.

There are several reasons for this approach. For example:

The return may have involved the Police, and as a consequence of legal obligations, we can say nothing that might identify the people involved.

Due to the value of the medals, it might be necessary to protect a family against becoming a victim for the second time.

The return has come about as a result of a request from a Government Department, in such cases the limitations of the Privacy Act, prevent us from saying almost anything, even on occasions the name of the recipient of the medals.

Finally, and in many ways the hardest, is to refrain from publishing a story that will embarrass the family.

So please understand that at times you may well read only a brief reference to the person to whom the medals were initially awarded, as well as to whom the medals are actually returned.

This then is the background to the return of what I have chosen to call “Albert RN’s Medals”. British movie fans of the 50’s will pick up on the name. Others can Google it.

With the closing of many RSL sub-branches of late, odd things have turned up during the clean-up.

Such was the case of a recent return where on looking through a set of filing cabinets, that had been used for many years as impromptu storage, an envelope containing three unmounted medals was discovered.

In the envelope along with the medals was a photo copy of what was believed to be part of the medals original recipient’s service file. And just as well, for the service file referred to a British WW2 Seaman, and as readers of this blog well now the British did not engrave or impress their WW2 medals.

How long the package had been in storage I cannot say, the last secretary of the club thought about 10 years at a minimum, at least before his time anyway. However, it was only after they had conducted their own exhaustive search that I was bought in.

So where to next? Limited in the ability to buy a complete copy of the actual service file, I chose a different path. Through a quiet query to our friends at the Australian Surname Group, I was able to build up a list of people sharing both the surname and the same given names as ‘Albert’. Strangely enough, but fortunately, only NSW and Victoria were involved.

Discounting NSW, after all the medals had been ‘found’ in Victoria, I then started to work my way through the list, looking, if not for ‘Albert’, then for a next of kin.

It has taken a year on and off for me to find Albert’s next of kin, his two sons, one of whom is now deceased. But it was whilst explaining the search, with the surviving son and his children that the following came to light.

When ‘Albert’ died nearly 27 years ago, the youngest son can still remember his father’s medals pinned to a small velvet cushion, but that is it. After the service, when he asked where his father’s medals were, the oldest brother told him that the funeral people had misplaced them, but they were looking. Needless to say they were still ‘missing’ when I contacted the family.

It was while I was explaining how long the medals may have been at the club, he volunteered that it was nearly 14 years since his older brother passed away, and that his sister in law died two years later. The daughter thought that a bit odd, as her Aunt, and at this point she even went to the trouble of opening up her iPad, and checking the address of the Club where the medals had supposedly originated from, had been in a retirement home less than a kilometre from the club.

At this point I decided that I would accept another cup of coffee, and quietly turned the conversation around, suggesting that they have the medals mounted, and not left singularly. This has now been done.

Oh and how many names were there. Let’s just say, too many, and I am glad I did not have to go to NSW. As I do not think you would be reading this story till sometime next year. Late next year.

Cyril McCarthy

Two months ago I was contacted by Philippe Clerbout from a research group in France. Philippe told me that one of his members had found a WWI dog tag issued to an Australian soldier and they were hopeful to return it to the family. Philippe had contacted some other groups and the ABC.
The dog tag was worn by 827 Cyril Michael McCarthy who served with 33rd Battalion, AIF. Using the service record, the electoral rolls and death notices I put together a family tree for Cyril. I knew that Cyril died in 1979, that he had three sons, six grand children and numerous great grand children. Unfortunately, as McCarthy is a reasonably common name, I just couldn't work out who the current generation was from the White Pages and other resources.
As a result of Philippe's contact with the ABC, they were keen to do a story. So with journalist Jennifer King I put together a story which was published on ABC online yesterday. Since then social media has gone wild. I've had several hundred emails many of which confirmed the information I already had. However, one email provided the key.
In the past I mave put links to the Australian Surname Group who we have a wonderful relationship with. One of the senior researchers, Sue H, took the McCarthy research the next step which I couldn't and provided a clue through the White Pages. Sue was spot on and minutes later I was talking to Cyril's grand son Bernard.
I've also let Philippe know the result and we will arrange for the medal to be sent shortly. Bernard tells me that he has Cyril's British War Medal and Victory Medal.
The returned medals tally is now 1303.

The search for Cyril McCarthy

For a while now I've been searching for the family of Cyril Michael McCarthy after his WW1 dog tag was found in France. I've collaborated with the ABC to try to track down a descendent. I have the first names of Cyril's family down to his great grand children but McCarthy is to common for me to narrow it down further.This link is to the ABC story.

Norm Heslington

The Vietnam War pair awarded to 5716836 Norman Kenneth Heslington were included in the parcel that I recently received from the WA RSL. From the nominal roll I worked out that Norm was a conscript and served with the 2nd Battalion, RAR. A search of Ancestry.com revealed that he was a child immigrant who travelled to Australia on his own to join his brothers at Fairbridge, south of Perth. Many readers, especially those from Perth, will know about Fairbridge Farm School.
It took me about a fortnight to locate Norm and today I was able to talk to him and find out his story. Norm was the longest resident of Fairbridge having lived there for 12 years. He was conscripted and served in Vietnam. Norm has been the President of the Old Fairbridgians Association and he has pointed me at this web site about the the situation today.
Norm lost his medals in the mid 1980s. He tells me that he has five medals in total and has been wearing replica medals for some years. It is obvious that someone has had the Vietnam War pair mounted but missing the other medals. I've provided Norm with the contact details of Honours and Awards so that he can obtain official replacements and see if he is entitled to any medals that have been awarded since he completed his service.
Thank you again to Wendy at the WA RSL who sent the medals to me. The returned medal tally is now 1302.

Wilfred Randall

I am so pleased that the milestone of 1300 medals returned by Lost Medals Australia has been achieved by Bill. Here is his story about the WWII medals awarded to Wilfred Randall.

I have commented before on the weird and wonderful places where medals turn up.

In the case those awarded to NX12938 Wilfred James Randall, it was doubly perplexing. For Margaret, our donor, there was not only the issue of how did they come to be in her father’s Lodge Case along with his regalia and his own medals, but just as importantly for her, who was Wilfred James Randall?

When her own very long and detailed search failed to find any family link to Wilfred, she turned to Veterans Affairs. It was at this point through our links to Veterans Affairs that I became involved.

One of the first things I was able to tell Margaret, was that Wilfred who served in the Army, died in 1975 in RHG, Concord. She added that her father died there in 1977, but that he had served in the RAAF. At that point, we diverged, and the search began.

One issue that complicated the search was that Wilfred’s father had been christened William and Wilfred, for some strange reason, also chose to go by the name William, shunning Wilfred. The result was the need for a constant rechecking as each fact to ensure I was tracing the Wilfred/William and not his father. This consumed a lot of time.

In fact, when I finally contacted one of his two nieces, she didn’t refer to him as Wilfred, but as ‘Uncle Bill’, as it appeared so did most of the family. In one case it led not so much as to an argument with a member of the family, but a need to actually explain the family tree, and where Wilfred fitted in.

Initially, when I found Wilfred’s marriage and the birth of his son Richard, I thought I was on a straight forward track. Sadly, both his wife and son predeceased him and at this point he seems to have spent many years wandering outback N.S.W.

Eventually, I returned to finishing the family tree, now populated with Wilfred’s six sisters, and two brothers. Despite all this information, it was the next generation that proved difficult. Outside of multiple marriages, or perhaps because of them, there were very few off-spring in successive generations. With the on line NSW, BDM’s cut off dates, I was forced to rely on TROVE, and the Ryerson index of Death Notices.

It was these resources that led me to Wilfred’s mother’s date of death, and her subsequent death notice. And as you would expect, if you follow this blog, me to the State Library

Fortunately and unlike many of today’s death notices, it detailed all the children, including one daughter, Beverley’s married name.

Even though the State Library micro fiche collection only goes up to 2008 it is still a valuable resource. Taking the chance that Beverley had not passed away in the intervening years, I next went on line to White Pages, and there was Beverley’s husband still at the same address.

Later that night I sat down and having worked out what I would say, I rang Beverley. As you can imagine after all these years, remember it is 38 years since her Uncle Bill died, she was at first non-plussed referring me to her older sister Elaine, who she professed knew more about the family tree than anyone. She certainly did. Elaine walked me through the family tree I had sketched out, pointing out the multiple marriages of some of her family and where in many cases there had been no children of the marriage. At this point Elaine called a halt to our discussion. The return of the medals, and exactly to whom in the family they should be returned, was too important, to be rushed.

Accordingly, she wanted to sit down with her sister Beverley and decide on the best course of action.

On Sunday just passed Elaine rang, she and Beverley had thought long and hard about not only accepting the medals and in particular their significance, but to whom in the family they should be passed.

Beverley and Elaine have decided that the best person in the family to accept the duty and care of the medals is Beverley’s Grandson, a current serving soldier, who has just returned from Afghanistan.

So now Beverley and Elaine have one another’s phone numbers, and addresses. Perhaps they will be able together to work out the mystery of how did Wilfred’s medals come to be in the care of Margaret’s father.

My thanks to Margaret, for not taking the easy course and leaving the medals in her father’s case. Thanks also to Beverley and Elaine for looking beyond just accepting the medals and to their future keeping and security.

Ruth Fenton

I have often mentioned the wonderful relationship that I have with the RSL National and State Branch Headquarters. This story is another example of our collaboration.
Last night I received a package of medals that have been handed in to the WA RSL. The first medal I looked at was awarded to WFX17049 Ruth Epsie Fenton. From the number I knew I was looking for a lady. However, a search of the name and initials and the service number bought up a nil result on the WW2 nominal roll. It took a little bit of playing around but I eventually located Ruth's entry. The F from her service number is missing and the entry is under her maiden name; Ruth Epsie Nichols.
Once I have this information I located an Ancestry family tree and fired off a message. This evening I was contacted by Ruth's daughter, Gail, who I'll return the medal to in the near future.
Thank you to Wendy at the WA RSL who sent the medal to me. The returned medal tally is now 1298.

Ivan Harrison

Three of the medals awarded to 41944 Corporal Ivan Lindsay Harrison, RAAF, were recently sent to me by Bernard D of Kotara, NSW. Having now spoken to Ivan's nephew, I know that Ivan was a Coast Watcher in PNG and would have been entitled to two more medals.
The medals are in as issued condition and never worn, they are also typical of RAAF WWII issued medals, being hand engraved rather than impressed. David tells me that after living in Melbourne after the war, Ivan moved to NSW which probably explains how his medals ended up there.
Thank you to Michael B for the part you played in helping me located David. For anyone who knows me well they will understand why I smilled when I found out what David's name was. The returned medal tally is now 1297.

Garnet Howland

I received the Victory Medal awarded to 1893 Garnet Wolsley Howland from Barbara H of Lithgow. After she came across the medal, Barbara visited the Australian War Memorial and my details were passed to her. Once I  had Garnet's service particulars from Barbara, it took 15 minutes to find one of Garnet's sons, Jack. Garnett served with 35th Battalion, AIF. Jack Noel Howland served during WWII and spent four years a POW.
The returned medal tally is now 1294.

Sixty Minutes 7 July 2013

It is vary rare that I post something here that is not directly related to medals that we return. However, two very good friends of mine will be appearing in a Sixty Minutes story tomorrow night. This link is to the promo for the story about Fromelles and the part Sandra and Tim's have played in the research of this tragic chapter in Australia's military history.

Robert Farley - again

In June 2011 I posted the story about the medals returned to the Farley family by Mick of Brisbane and the part Lost Medals Australia played. This is the link. Today I was contacted by Mick again who has come across more medals awarded to QX42659 Robert Farley. Once again I've connected both parties and soon two more lost medals will be returned.
The returned medal tally is now 1293

Graham Jennings

This is another set of medals that Bill received from John Morris from the Longbeach RSL. I think it is then fitting that John would be handed the medals back last week so he could then present them to the daughter of VX141521Graham Arthur Jennings. As it turned out that after a fruitless12 month search and than having Bill locate the family, John actually knows Graham's daughter. However, he knows her by her married name not her maiden name.

In his notes, Bill tells me that this was a pretty difficult search but he ‘got lucky with the Electoral Rolls, well sort of lucky’. One thing that surprised Bill a little was the as issued condition that the medals are in which can clearly be seen in the picture

We can’t thank John enough for the trust that he has placed in us.

The returned medal tally is now 1291.

Defence Long Service Medal

This Defence Long Service Medal came to Bill from via John Morris of the Longbeach RSL. A search of the RSL records did not reveal any member with the same name that is on the medal. John then turned to Bill for help. Once Bill received the medal and provided me the name it took less than a minute to locate the contact details of the serviceman it was awarded to.

We now know that the medal was last seen pinned to a service dress jacket which was stolen at a function in Melbourne in 2005. So after eight years the medal will be sent home making the returned medal tally 1287.

Donald Hickman

The WWII service of S213610 Donald Stanley Hickman seems to be quite unremarkable. He was a militia member who did not serve overseas. What appears to be more intriguing is the journey that his medals have travelled.
I received the medals from Richard M who lives in Lafayette, California. How they got to the USA is anyone's guess. While the obverse and reverse of the medals are in good condition the rim seems to be scratched. I wonder if somewhere along the line someone has tried to remove the naming.
Once I received the medals from Richard I found Donald listed on an Ancestry  family tree. The owner wasn't able to to help but very kindly put me in touch with a Hickman family member in South Australia. This new lead proved very successful and today I received the phone number of Donald's son. We have since had a very nice conversation and I'll send him the medals shortly. However, the mystery still remains as to how these medals ended up in Lafayette.
Thanks to Richard for the medals, Karen for the connection to Robin and to Robin for tracking down Lance.
The returned medal tally is now 1286.

Renwick Harper

When I received the medals awarded to 735 Renwick Harper I immediately thought that with such a distinctive first name the search might be straight forward. But the more I dug in to the life of Renwick the more difficult the search and the murkier the story became. (If the link to the service record drops out this tutorial will show you how to access service records).
It turned out that his full name is Renwick Joseph Hutton Harper. He was born in South Australia in 1890 and as I have mentioned before the South Australian records are difficult to access. However, I then discovered a gold mine of information in the newspaper records held online at Trove. More of that later.
Renwick served with the 1st Remount Unit (1 RMT UNIT) which was a reasonable small unit and medals awarded to members are scarce. He was awarded the WWI trio of medals for service during WWI. The unit it named differently on the Victory Medal - 1ARU for 1st Australian Remount Unit.

So back to what I discovered in Trove. Renwick was a petty criminal. In 1914 he was arrested for assault and robbery. This article summarises the crime.

 Source: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88846062

 Renwick's service record shows that his conduct while in the Army was good but once he returned to Australia he was prosecuted for selling surplus military equipment without authorisation.

Source: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45521194

Trove has several more articles about the prosecution of both of these crimes. In the 1920s or 30s Renwick left South Australia and led an itinerant life. He very rarely surfaces in the records except for two notable occasions. He was listed as living at the Queanbeyan Camping Ground which is a less than 20km from where I live. He was also accused in NSW of assult that resulted in a man dying but there was a lack of evidence.
Renwick returned to South Australia and died in 1959. I highly suspect that he sold his medals at some time and it is amazing that the trio remained together for all these years.
Thank you to Andrea C again who sent me the medals along with the Hoskin medals after seeing the ACA show on Anzac Day. I look forward to sending this group to the family in the near future. The returned medal tally is now 1284.

Australian Active Service Medal

This Australian Active Service Medal came to me via Australia Post after being found without any packaging. It was awarded to a current day veteran who is still serving so I wont provide many detail.
The returned medal tally is now 1282.

Henry Hoskin

This was one of those really complicated searches as Henry Hoskin had several variations of his name. Henry's service record shows that he served as 2385 Henry Arthur John Hoskin, 10 Bn AIF. (If the link drops out this tutorial will show you how to access service records).
I thought with that quite distinctive combination of names, tracking him would be easy. Henry originally came from South Australia which has the hardest historic records to track down. So that was the first problem. I then discovered that what records I could access didn't refer to Henry at all. So I went back to his father Alexander and mother who is referred to in one document as Julie Ann Coates Hoskin.
I played around with this combinations of names and over many days, I pieced together a family tree which showed that at different times family members had Coates, Coutts or Coats as either a middle name or as part of a hyphenated name, Coutts-Hoskin.
Using these new search parameters, I tracked down 2825 James Coutts Hoskin who was KIA on 24 August 1918, just 10 weeks prior to the Armistice. James is commemorated at the Villers Bretonneux cemetery. James NOK lined up with one of Henry's siblings so I knew I had the right family. The next step was the easiest and I found James on an Ancestry family tree and I was soon in contact with the tree owner, Ian. I also worked out that another of Henry's siblings served as SX7811 Private Daniel Hoskin during WWII.
Ian is Henry's great nephew and I'll return the medal to him shortly. Thank you to Andrea C who sent me the medals after seeing the ACA show on Anzac Day. The returned medal tally is now 1281.

The following photo is of the Villers Bretonneux cemetery taken in 2009.