Just as I finished work today, I had a call on my mobile phone from a lovely man who said he tracks down relatives to return lost war medals, and he wondered if I could help him with a medal which belonged to Frederick Oswald Creek.
Could I ???
Frederick Oswald Creek was my g g uncle, so I could give him lots of info. From publicly available records (esp electoral rolls on ancestry) he had lost the thread of the few descendents of Frederick's father Edward James Creek.
Frederick O Creek died at the battle of Pozieres or Mouquet Farm on 7 Aug 1916 and his body never located so he is remembered on the Villiers Bretonneux Memorial. Who knows when his medal was lost from his family, as I am sure his mother treasured it !
But curiously, a few months ago a lady had emailed me regarding Edwards wife Annie. So I told him of the contact and was sure she was a far closer rellie than me and she would probably know of other descendents of Edward and Annie. When I got home I emailed my contacts email add and an outline tree, so he could see where Frederick fitted into our larger Creek tree.
So, last night, he had spoken to my contact (don't ask me how he tracked her down from a hotmail email add !!) and she was thrilled to know the medal could be returned to her family.
And I am happy to have helped.
If you think you can help with a lost war medal, or know one is lost - there is a list of medals that Glyn is trying to return -
www.lostmedalsaustralia.com - not all are Australian medals.
Diane