Bisdee War Medals Missing HELP

[La Raven]

Hello sorry if this is in the right place

But I am a direct descendant of Albert Charles Bisdee who served in WW1

I have finally found his 1914/15 star which was in the local return soldiers league, but they returned it to a non- family member and we finally managed to get it back – in very bad condition.

This leaves his

British war medal issued 5/6 number 5112

Victory Medal issued 5/6 number 5102

I am asking for any help in finding these two medals as they should be kept together. Any ideas and starting points would be grateful. I have phone the Honours, Awards dept of the Armed services

Australia but they weren’t interested in helping me.

Many thanks

[Blackblue]

I note that Albert listed his Next of Kin as a cousin and that he had changed his Next of Kin from his father whom he lists as 'address unknown'. He was obviously estranged from the family for some reason during WW1. Albert does not appear to have married and does not apear to have had any offspring, dying in 1939. It appears the medal was handed into the Boulder RSL in Western Australia and later returned to a descendant of his listed Next of Kin, because no family could be located.

Quite frankly you should be very thankful you have this in the family after all these years, and particularly thankful to those who handed it in and managed to get it back to you. You are in a far better position than many families and the medal appears in excellent condition. Remember it is nearly 100 years old.

http://lostmedalsaus...01_archive.html

http://lostmedalsaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/post-update-bisdee-1914-15-star.html

Honours and Awards in Australia deal with issuing medals, not tracking down medals those receiving them have misplaced.

There is a photo of Albert in an 11th Battalion shot which you can order from the Australian War Memorial.

http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/E01779

Good luck with your search.

[La Raven]

Hello my Ablert was my Great great grandfathers uncle he did have no kids and wasnt married. He had a fight with his father the day he enlisted as he did not want him to join as a result he listed his neighbour as next of kin and put him down as his cousin (barretts) he also was only 15 when he enlisted (he put his age up).....That was the story told by the family over the years.

A family member recently died and it was her wish and request in her will that the medals return to the bloodline/family and it was her great niece that helped us find the 1914/15 star, It took her an hour to find my mother as it was returned to the neighbors family. But the other medals location are still unknown after 30yrs of my mother looking i am now also looking for them.

It would be nice to see them return to family and reunite with the 1914/15 medal. The RSL have been very helpful and have recommended we get replicas of the ones we still can not find.

Many thanks for the photo

[Blackblue]

I take it Albert was actually christened Albert Henry and born out of wedlock to Selina Bisdee and William James Lee? If so he was born in 1893, which is consistent with the age on his Service Papers being 22 years and 5 months. I would think it fairly difficult for a 15 year old to pass themselves off as 22 years and 5 months old.

Selina and William appear to have married in 1897 and Selina appears to have died in 1903 aged 31. I can find no record of an Albert Charles Bisdee as his father as recorded in his papers, although your Albert appears to have used this middle name for the rest of his life and is recorded in this manner on Electoral Rolls at Collie until the late 1930s.

In any event...if the records are this murky and there has been nothing publicly available highlighting your search until now you are extremely lucky the medal found its way back to you.

People seeking to return these things to families can only go on what is recorded in records (false in this case it appears)...or on the Internet.

Probably the only things you can do are highlight your search on the Internet, try the local paper in the Manjimup/Collie/Boulder area (where the Star was handed in) and contact militaria dealers over that way to see if they recall the medals passing through their hands. The Star was handed in mounted separately so has probably been estranged from the other medals some time. They were also usually issued separately to the BWM/VM.

Death Notices here. Apparently he was known as Joe and records him as being 50 years old:

http://trove.nla.gov...e&searchLimits=

http://trove.nla.gov...e&searchLimits=

http://trove.nla.gov...e&searchLimits=

[La Raven]

Hello again yeah sorry that was great grand dad who changed his age i got them confused. Thanks for the notices and yeah he did go by joe later in life - not sure why though. I'm try what you suggest in the local papers etc. I'll let you know how the search goes.

Many thanks for all your help