Military medal stolen, recovered, returned.

[AngusScully]

“In early December 2021, Liam Robertson, a civic parks employee in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, was cleaning up an encampment in a local park and found a medal with a name inscribed on the rim. He decided to take it to the Vancouver Island Military Museum to establish its authenticity and return it, if possible, to its rightful owner. At VIMM we gave it a close look and verified that it was indeed a Military Medal from the First World War. The Military Medal was awarded to recognize gallantry and devotion to duty when under fire in battle on land. On the rim of the medal was inscribed “Sgt. J.P. Austin 50th Battalion.” Who was Sgt. J.P. Austin? Did he survive the war? Where was he born? In what engagement did he receive the medal? Does the initial “J” stand for Johnson, Jeffrey, Jon, John?  Lastly, how does a Military Medal end up in a park in Nanaimo? Research at the Library and Archives Canada website revealed there were many Austin’s including first names which began with “J”. However, there were no Sergeants. A review of WWI Military Medal recipients in the British war records indicated there was a Sergeant J.P Austin who received the MM. He was a member of the 50th CEF Battalion from Calgary. A discussion with staff at The Military Museums in Calgary produced the name John Petrie Austin, who was a Lieutenant in the 50th and had been promoted after he received the MM as a sergeant. With this information we were able to find J. P Austin’s military service record in Library and Archives Canada and in that, his birthplace. A British community web project commemorating the Great War, Durham at War, proved invaluable in finding out who J.P Austin was.”

This is the beginning of an article by Greg Devenish in the newsletter of the Vancouver Island Military Museum, spring 2022 (www.militarymuseum.ca Click on Extras), that traces how this medal was lost, found, and returned to the daughter of the man to whom it was awarded. The story received widespread coverage in Canadian media. See

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/century-old-war-medal-returned-to-b-c-family-with-new-details-on-how-it-was-earned-1.5774533

https://www.cheknews.ca/vancouver-island-military-museum-reunites-bravery-medal-with-family-948376/

The photo shows Liam Robertson, the Nanaimo municipal employee who found the medal, and Margaret Sloan, the daughter of J. P. Austin, the man to whom the medal was awarded. It was a pleasure to meet Margaret - over a century of time melted away. 

Edited 25 November , 2022 by AngusScully

[WhiteStarLine]

Gee, there are some wonderful people in the world!  Thanks for posting this.

[MrEd]

Fab work

[Kitchener's Bugle]

What a lovely story - many thanks for posting 

[chrislaidler507]

As Chair of the Goole First World War Group I have had the pleasure of returning two British War Medals back to the families of the men to whom they were awarded. I gave up trying to work out how certain pieces of info or objects come to light that relates to the men and women from the town who served during the War and how the medals got back to the families is no exception.

Roy Hedley No.240087 King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Medal was found an unknown number of years ago in an allotment (was dug by a rotavator) with some slight damage to the rim and suspension bar missing. It came to us with an expression of trying to get it back to his family. Thankfully his service record was found, this showed that Roy was captured in March 1918 and he returned home in Jan 1919. In Spring 2013 we exhibited our material at a local museum where I showed the medal and its story to a woman who I knew through this project - she said 'He's from my family' (her mother's parents were one of 19 and 21 in terms of children so it's 'big' family!). She put me touch with her cousin who was Roy granddaughter - see attachment.

On occasion such material that relates to WWI appears on a certain auction site (pretty sure I'm not the only one here to go on there ***). It was here that I purchased the BWM for William Henry Taylor No.41132 10th Bn KOYLI d.04.10.1917. It was only ever really for us to have on display at family/local history events which we attend locally. That changed when I received an email from his great-niece. She explained that her own daughters were doing research on WWI for school, and knowing that William had died during the War they typed his name into google, from which they got a hit on an archived result from the above auction site. Though the seller wasn't able to directly able to find my details via the auction he did so after going through paypal (they keep records beyond the six-month period that the site does). In Nov 2018 when attending our next exhibition in the town's library, we returned the medal back to his family. How and why the medal had the little journey it did may never be known.

Take a great deal of pride in the research we have done over the last seventeen years and the amount of work we have done and thankfully it shows no sign of stopping just yet.

Chris

[Terry_Reeves]

Well done Chris and group, keep up the good work.

TR