In late 2022 I received a call from John Wills, a former senior NZ Police officer and a noted expert on New Zealand and Police medals of which he has authored several books. John is someone MRNZ has regular contact with in the course of our work. A Wellington jeweller (Ian Douglas) who had been assisting with the disposal of a deceased friend’s estate contacted John after finding a pair of WW1 medals in a box of odds and ends. The medals were both named to 16521 WOII C. A. ALLEN N.Z.E.F. The British War Medal, 1914/18 and Victory Medal (both minus ribbons) were in excellent condition and looked as if they had hardly, if ever, been worn.
Aware of their value and of John’s expertise in medals, Ian asked if their return to a descendant family member was possible. If not, the medals were to be sold and the proceeds donated to St John Ambulance. Promising to do whatever he could, John contacted MRNZ for assistance.
Charles Alfred Allen
Charles Allen’s military records show he was born at Stonehouse, Plymouth in Devon on 28 March 1885. The youngest of four boys born to parents Alfred “Alf” ALLEN (1863-1916), a Marble Polisher/ Stone Dresser from Newton Abbot, Devon and his wife Emily Rebecca ELLIS (c1864 – 1863-1960), also from Devon.
Alfred “Alf” Allen had joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Seaman in Nov 1884. A ship’s Stoker, 129259 Stoker Alfred Allen’s first ship was HMS Indus, an 80-gun two-deck second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy launched in March 1839 at the Portsmouth Dockyard. At the time Alf joined the Indus she was employed as a guard ship, a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour. Alf concluded his naval service as a Chief Stoker in Aug 1919 earning a navy lifetime pension.
Alf married in Plymouth and had a family of four sons. He and Emily resided in Plymouth until emigrating to NZ in the 1920s. In order of seniority Charles (Chas) Allen’s brothers were: Philip Charles ALLEN (b:1881 -?), a Printer, Henry George “Harry” ALLEN (1883-1963), a Carpenter and Electrical Fitter at the telephone branch of HM Dockyard Portsmouth; Charles Alfred (1883-1973), and Frederick “Frank” ALLEN (1887-1970), Royal Navy Signalman. Frank, like his father, had also joined the Royal Navy training school in Jan 1903 as a 16 year old Boy Seaman.**
Note: ** 224988 Leading Signalman Frederick Frank Allen distinguished himself during WW1 whilst serving on HMS Dublin, a Town-class light cruiser. Frank was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) in May 1918 for his outstanding service while posted to the Mediterranean Station (London Gazette, 30867, 14 May 1918 refers). Frank Allen retired from the RN in July 1927 as a Petty Officer (Sgt. equivalent) Yeoman of Signals.
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World War 1
In 1901, Charles Alfred Allen was 16 when he began his working life in Plymouth as an Apprentice Plasterer. By the time war with Europe was on the cards, Charles had emigrated to New Zealand and was plying his trade as a plasterer in Stuart Street, Dunedin for his Christchurch employer, Mr Berley of Harewood.
When volunteers were called for overseas service, with two of his brothers serving in the Royal Navy, Charles volunteered for the Army enlistin in Dunedin. Joining the NZEF as an infantryman, Charles enlistment medical shows he was 5 feet 10 inches tall (178 cms), 168lbs (76 kgs) and had been troubled with Flat Feet in the year prior to enlistment – he was however passed fit for service overseas. Attested for the “duration of the war” on 17 March 1916 at Trentham, Gunner Charles Allen was assigned to the Specialist Company’s Machine-Gun Section (MGS) of the NZ Machine-Gun Corps (NZMGC). After a week’s ‘march in’ administration at Trentham, the reinforcements were entrained to the newly opened Featherston Military Training Camp in the Wairarapa where basic infantry and mounted rifleman training were conducted.
Charles had nominated his mother Emily Allen as his Next of Kin however his parents lived in England at Killarney House, 11 Charles Place, Embankment Road, Plymouth. Accordingly, Charles also required a NZ point of contact and so nominated a friend, Charles Arthur Comber, a Brick Layer & Builder, of 167 Edinburgh St, Spreydon, Christchurch.
Pte. Charles Allen and the Specialist Company’s Machine-Gun Section left Wellington for Devonport, England aboard the HMNZT 60 Ulimaroa on 29 July 1916, arriving on 8 Sep. Marched the three kilometres from the train station to NZ’s Sling Camp on the Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, the reinforcements were settled in to begin their preparation for deployment to the NZ front line at Armentieres. On 4 October, the Machine-Gun Section men were transferred to the NZ Machine-Gun Corps training school which had been established at Grantham. After just 12 days of training in the tactics and employment of the machine-guns, the MG Section reinforcements left for France. Arriving at the NZ Infantry & General Base Depot, Etaples on 15 Nov, the gunners were integrated into the NZ Machine-Gun Corps. The Gunners were subsequently assigned to a specific Company of the NZMG Battalion, each company in turn co-located with one of NZ’s eight infantry and rifle battalion. Pte. Allen was posted to No.1 Company, NZMGB on 26 Nov.
Pte. Allen’s file gives very little detail of his actual movements and employment whilst in France save for his movement to Rouen prior to being advanced to Armentieres, his appointment to L/Cpl. in Sep 1917, a brief spell admitted to the Field Ambulance with Bronchitis in Feb 1918. Promotion to Corporal came on 1 Mar 1918 to complete the unit establishment, and then to Sergeant on 22 August to replace Charles’s wounded predecessor. Sgt. Allen was then posted to A Company of the reorganised and enlarged NZ Machine-Gun Battalion.
Following the NZ Division’s successful capture and liberation on 4 Nov 1918 of the French town of Le Quesnoy from the occupying elements of the German 22 Division, Sgt. Allen was appointed the Company Sergeant Major (CSM) of No.1 NZMG Company with the rank of Warrant Officer Class II (WO2). It is also noteworthy that CSM Allen had only one period of leave whilst overseas, 18 days (incl travel) to the UK in early November 1918.
On 7 March 1919, CSM Allen left France and returned to Larkhill Camp on the Wiltshire Plain prior to his demobilization at the NZ Discharge Depot, Torquay. A rather long wait of almost two months delayed his return to NZ, attributed to a shipping strike and shortage of available troopships. WO2 Allen was finally embarked on to the SS Briton on 17 June and five weeks later arrived in Auckland on 21 August, the date Charles Allen was formally discharged from the NZEF after nearly two and a half years overseas service without serious injury.
Medals: British War Medal 1914/18 and Victory Medal
Service Overseas: 2 years 361 days
Total NZEF Service: 3 years 159 days
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Immigration
Exactly when and where Charles Allen met his wife to-be is unknown however within 18 months of returning home Charles married in 1921 to Taranaki born Lile Millicent Geraldine INSTON (1895-1951) who was living with her single sister and brother in Norfolk Rd, Miro, Stratford. Geraldine came from a large farming family in rural Ngaere (meaning ‘swamp’), four kilometres south of Stratford. The Allen’s rented their first home in Levy Road, Glen Eden while Charles returned to his plastering work (a calling he remained with until his eventual retirement). First born was a daughter, Emily Joyce Allen in 1922 followed by two sons, Roy James Allen in 1923, and Lloyd Charles Allen in 1926.
In December 1922 Charles Allen’s parents Alfred and Emily, together with Charles’s older brother Henry George, his wife Ethel and their four children, immigrated to New Zealand. Arriving in Auckland aboard the RMS Arawa on 25 Jan 1923, the family soon settled into a house on Woodlands Road, Glen Eden where they were joined shortly afterwards by Charles and Geraldine.
Napier, 1931
A move to 14 Seaview Tce, Mt Roskill in the mid-1920s preceded Charles and Geraldine’s move to Napier in 1931. The devastating f February 3rd earthquake had completely destroyed Napier’s inner city. Skilled tradesman of every specialty were desperately needed to help repair and re-build the city – Charles answered the call. The house at 14 Coote Street on Bluff Hill was to be the Allen’s home for the next three and a half years before they relocated to Wellington in 1934. Here Charles took up contract plastering work for the NZ Government. His family was settled into 82 Tiber Street, Island Bay, a house that remained in the Allen family for the next twenty plus years.
World War 2
Keen to serve his country again, when enlistments were called for ahead of the formation of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) for war service in Europe, after the 1st Echelon departed Charles again volunteered to serve in June 1940 on the strength of his considerable WW1 experience in the NZ Machine-Gun Corps. Unfortunately at 55 years of age he was rejected, even for the National Military Reserve (NMR – Home Guard), as he “did not meet the prescribed physical standard” – i.e., he was “Over Age”! Charles returned to his plastering work. After WW2, Charles’s work oscillated between government contracts and private plastering jobs in and around Wellington until it was time to hang up his trowel and retire.
The Allen’s two sons had still been in their teens in 1938 but both had jobs. Roy (16) was a Steam Presser and Lloyd (14) a Grocer’s Assistant. Both had continued with their Army territorial training following their school cadet years and at this time were undertaking training at Fort Dorset, Seatoun. Roy being the elder was later balloted for war service in October 1941 when he turned 18 however was not called up, remaining in the NMR for home service. Lloyd had been keen to serve overseas but his age and the end of the war in Sep 1945 dashed his hopes. His enthusiasm was revived in late 1945 with the news that a New Zealand contribution to an army of occupation in Japan was to be formed. The post-war plan for Japan called for a British led, multi-national force to be known as the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF). NZ’s component was called J-Force and comprised two infantry battalions (one being a battalion returning from Italy) plus Army Service Corps and Corps of Signals elements. A series of reinforcement contingents which included volunteers from New Zealand was to provide relief for those in place on roughly a six monthly rotational basis. New Zealand’s J-Force was deployed in Japan from Oct 1946 until Jul 1948.
** Note: J-FORCE. An infantry soldier, 653490 Temp L/CPL. Lloyd C. Allen was one of approx 12,000 NZ soldiers who served as members of J-Force in post war Japan following the surrender, to restore the peace, clean up debris from the atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Ngagasaki, and to help rebuild and direct Japan into becoming a democratic society. NZ provided a tri-service contribution to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) Japan that occupied Japan from Feb 1946 – Sep 1948. L/Cpl. Allen deployed with the 3rd Battalion, NZ Regiment which arrived on the MV Dunera at Kure 1 Aug 1947. The 3rd Battalion based at Yamaguchi (Canterbury Camp) and Kiwa was withdrawn on 24 Jul 1948. Following his return to NZ, Lloyd Allen went back to the grocery business in Wellington, and married Eileen Edna MARSHALL in 1949.
K-FORCE – Lloyd Allen re-enlisted again in 1950 for service with the NZ Army’s commitment to the Korea War. 206749 Gunner L. C. Allen deployed to Korea with the 2nd Embarkation of NZ’s K-Force, serving with 16 Field Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery between 1951 and 1953. K-Force was NZ’s part of a multi-national contribution of military forces to the British Commonwealth Force Korea (BCFK). The force besides NZ comprised components 15 other countries in what was to be the first test of the newly formed United Nations, to keep communist North Korea from crossing the Demarcation Line and invading South Korea. Approximately 6100 New Zealanders served with K-Force which included RNZN and RNZAF elements.
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Retirement
Charles Allen’s Shropshire born father Charles Snr had died in 1916 at the age of 53 while Charles was still serving in France. In August 1951 Charles lost both his mother Emma (57) and his eldest child, daughter Emily Joyce Coburn in November at the age of 28.
Around 1950, Charles (65) retired from the plastering trade. Son Roy married in 1943, he and his wife also occupying the family home at 82 Tiber Street along with brother Lloyd. Around 1949, Charles and Geraldine left Tiber Street after deciding to retire to the then rebuilt, art deco style city of Napier where they saw out their retirement years at 72 McGrath Street. Once Roy and his wife had moved out of Tiber St, the house was given over to youngest son Lloyd who remained in residence until his advancement in the grocery trade and marriage, took him,to other parts of NZ.
“Emma” Lyle (Lile) Millicent Geraldine (Inston) Allen was 83 when she predeceased Charles in Napier on 28 April 1971. Eighteen months later, Charles Alfred Allen passed away on 12 October 1973 at the age of 88. Both were buried together in Napier’s Wharerangi Cemetery, Napier.
~ Lest We Forget ~
“Emma” and the long & winding road …
Ancestry had given me a good start to the overall shape of the Allen family however my first issue job task was to check where Charle’s was buried. Whilst his mother (and presumably father Albert who died in 1916) were interred in Karori Cemetery, there was no sign of Charles. I did eventually find his non-descript headstone in Napier that acknowledge his wife “EMMA”, not a name I had come across and not one that featured in any records associated with her maiden name, Lyle Geraldine Millicent Inston. Had Charles re-married? Nothing surfaced in the records to indicate this; perhaps he had been re-married overseas? This is where the difficulties began.
Second born – Roy James & the two ‘Joans’
I let that go for the time being to seek out possible living descendants of the male family members first as they have a greater likelihood of carrying the medal recipient’s surname than do female members who marry. I started second born, Roy James Allen (1923-1989). Roy was Carpenter who had married Joan Lois DAVY in 1943. The couple spent their first years of marriage living with the family at 82 Tiber Street. The electoral roll shows Roy and Joan Allen (sic) both still living there in 1945. Around 1949, Roy and Joan Allen (sic) are shown at an address in Rolleston Street, Brooklyn. Roy next appeared in Napier, listed alone and employed as a Shop Assistant? More questions ??????? – was this the same Roy James Allen? I eventually found Roy and Joan (sic) in the 1954 electoral roll for Titahi Bay, Porirua where Roy was once again listed as a carpenter.
Unbeknown to me at the time, Roy and Joan Lois Allen had separated and divorced hence Roy’s appearance in Napier on his own. What had almost derailed me was that a Joan Allen (not Joan Lois Allen) appeared in the Wellington rolls as living in Porirua from 1966 onwards however her husband turned out to be a welder named George, thus eliminating this couple. Whilst I found no evidence of Roy and Joan Lois Allen ever having children, what put another spanner in the works was when by chance I discovered that Roy had actually separated and divorced Joan Lois Allen, but had re-married in 1949 to a woman with the same first name as Joan Lois (Davy) Allen – Joan TAYLOR, and so the entries of “Roy and Joan Allen” for both Wellington central and Porirua had been almost continuous and seamless. The electoral roll for Napier had been an aberration as Roy and Joan (Taylor) had been living mostly in Wellington since the time they were married and listed as “Roy and Joan Allen – 75 Pikarere Street, Titahi Bay”! By 1978 Joan Allen was living on her own in Titahi Bay and Roy was living in Tauranga? – confusion reigned! I did manage to establish that no children had resulted from Roy’s union with either “Joan”.
Third born – Lloyd Charles
Thankfully third born son Lloyd Allen’s trail was a little more transparent. He had remained in the grocery trade for all of his working life and traceable. Lloyd had stayed on at 82 Tiber Street after his parents went to Napier, and had married Eileen Edna MARSHALL (1923-2014) in 1949 just prior to embarking for Korea.
On his return from Korea, Lloyd and Edna (Eileen) moved to 447 Adelaide Rd, Newtown to manage a grocer business. By 1956 they were in Dannevirke managing a grocery until 1960 when another derailment could have occurred. Lloyd Charles Allen suddenly appeared in the Wellington electoral rolls as a Law Clerk! Had Lloyd returned to Wellington, refreshed his career choice to become a lawyer? – always possible as he was still only 30 years of age at this point. As it turned out 1963 saw a parting of the two Lloyd Allen entries with wife’s initials “E”, one establishing himself as a Solicitor in Hamilton (with wife E.J.– Erin Julie) while our Lloyd Allen (with E.E.– Edna Eileen), had taken up a grocery management appointment in Hawera until around 1963. Lloyd and Edna transferred to Palmerston North in 1963 taking charge of another grocery business (supermarket I imagine) that they ran for the next 20-odd years. Edna also joined the business as a Shop Assistant from this point on.
The Allen’s settled at 341 College Street until 1978 when I suddenly found Lloyd (without Edna) in Wellington working as an Administrator (presumably something to do with head office of the grocery chain he worked for). Lloyd’s next appearance was in Ancestry which recorded his death in Wellington in 1981, Retired, and buried at Makara Cemetery. Edna showed up as still being at College Street in Palmerston North through to this time and beyond, until 1981 which was the limit of access to online electoral roll records at this time. Children were an unknown with the exception of one entry in the 1972 electoral roll for “Glennys Elizabeth Allen – 341 College Street – Controller” which did not mean much then. Was it Lloyd and Edna’s daughter, or another relative?
A funeral notice lead…
A 2014 Palmerston North funeral notice for “Eileen Allen” crucially helped to establish that “Glennys Elizabeth Allen” was Lloyd & Edna’s daughter. The notice cited “mother of Glennys (ka Janet) Allen” and “Clive Allen” listed with numerous grandchildren who were not attributed to any particular parent/family and therefore if under 21 would make identification in the rolls impossible.
Scanning the Palmerston North electoral rolls 1972–1981 proved to be productive. Glennys Elizabeth Allen appeared in three more entries – 1975, 1978 and 1981. The 1975 & 1978 rolls showed Glennys different addresses in Palmerston North – occupation in each case: Controller. Then a 1981 roll for Taranaki stumped me: here the same person – occupation: Student – Waikaka Rd, Matiere in the Ruapehu District!
Being aware that Palmerston North was home to a Teachers’ Training College, my first thought was that Glennys had perhaps been temporarily employed as a “Controller” (whatever that was? – air or road traffic, warehouse stock etc?) and then perhaps had opted to retrain as a Teacher? After making enquires of what exactly was at Matiere, the King Country town is described by Wikipedia as a ‘ghost town’. A few scattered houses, former shops and former churches but oddly enough still had a functioning primary school (est. 1906), years 1-8 with a roll of 30. Numerous phone calls (bad reception!) to ascertain whether a Ms. Glennys Allen had ever been on the teaching staff of the school or indeed at a training establishment that had been also located near the settlement, from around 1980 onwards? My inquiries were invariably met with a bemused ‘who? – never heard of her’ response. I let that go for the time being and checked out “Clive Allen”. There are numerous Clive Allen’s in the countries electoral rolls, many with different middle names and some without, so not quite the time to start trying to contact them all! I needed more defined clues.
ALLEN male descendants
The net result of seeking a male ALLEN descendant at this point in the ancestral search was Nil. Lloyd had no children I knew of and Roy had had no children with either of his wives. Clive was an unknown unless he could be identified among the many like named individuals throughout NZ.
First born – Emily Joyce
That left me with Charles and Geraldine’s first born and only daughter, Emily Joyce Allen and her family to explore for a living descendant. Born in Auckland in 1922, twenty year old Emily had been living at home in Tiber St, Island Bay when she married a Wellington born driver, Lawrence Alexander COBURN (1920-1984) in 1944. By 1949, the Coburns had relocated with Lawrence’s work to Tuai, a village and rural community near Lake Whakamarino in the Hawkes Bay. The next record of Lawrence Coburn I found was in 1954 which showed him alone, a resident of Woodville and the Borough Foreman. A search for Emily Joyce Coburn soon revealed she had died in 1951 (unexpectedly?) at the age of 28 whilst in Waipukurau.
The one saving grace of this revelation was that Emily and Lawrence had been married for seven years and had a young family of three before her death – Lawrence Alexander Coburn [Jnr], Barbara Joyce Coburn and Allan Charles Coburn.
Emily and Lawrence’s first born, Lawrence Alexander sadly was immediately ruled out as he had been Still Born in 1945. Their second and third children, Barbara Joyce and Allen Charles Coburn fared much better, surviving into adulthood. Any information regarding children they may have had I would need to source from someone who knew more about the family’s structure almost to the present day as the living are rarely shown on Ancestry’s family trees. For this I turned to Ancestry to begin new lines of inquiry with selected authors of family trees that contained any Allen family members.
Ancestry to the rescue
Several weeks later, among the majority of responses of those unable to assist, was one helpful contribution from Alison A. of Tauranga. Alison didn’t know the Allen family personally however as a result of her taking the Ancestry DNA test she established a family link to Charles Allen’s wife Geraldine and to their first born and only daughter, Emily Joyce (Allen) COBURN, via Alison’s maternal SHOTTER family ancestors. Alison’s DNA test also revealed that her closest DNA match was to Emily’s daughter Barbara Joyce Coburn.
Joyce Coburn was born in 1948 in the Hawkes Bay town of Wairoa, had married Woodville plumber Bruce Lloyd LAWRENCE (1942-2024) and as far as Alison knew, the couple had had only two children, a girl named “Jodie” and an un-named boy – the great-grandchildren of Charles Alfred Allen. Alison had no idea where to find the two siblings mainly due to Ancestry’s electoral roll date limit of 1981 (it is now 2010). Jodie later provided information that Alison’s ‘un-named boy’ was her younger brother Lloyd Christian Lawrence.
As for Allan Charles Coburn (c1950), an Electrical Technician of Palmerston North, married Biochemist, Dale Margaret …….? and are believed to have two daughters, Anna Marie and Charlotte, little else is known.
When asked if she knew of Glennys and Clive Allen, Alison was able to confirm that both were the children of Lloyd and Edna Allen but that was all. Glennys and Clive in fact are Alison’s third cousins however she had never met or had any contact with them.
The path was narrowing and the odds of finding a living direct descendant of Charles Allen had increased with Alison’s help.
End in sight…
When Alison identified a “Jodie Lawrence” from Wellington on a social media page, she attempted to make contact. The account had not been accessed for more than a year (often a sign that membership has lapsed) and so Alison’s message went unanswered. While scanning the internet I happened upon an article in a Pacific island of Niue newspaper dated March 2022, that specifically mentioned a “S/Sgt Jodie Lawrence.” My immediate thoughts were that it referred to an Army Staff Sergeant ….. but no, – once I accessed the article, low and behold before me was a photograph of a group of police officers in Alofi, Niue with S/Sgt Jodie Lawrence central, the leader of a NZ Police training team visiting the islands. Jodie was in fact a Police Senior Sergeant (Snr.Sgt), not an Army Staff Sergeant (S/Sgt) as I had interpreted the abbreviation to be, which admittedly can also be very confusing for those unfamiliar with military/police official abbreviations (such as the press).
My initial attempts to make contact with Jodie had also failed, no doubt still out of the country or elsewhere around NZ. I had one ace up my sleeve. At that particular time (June 2023) I had been researching a case on behalf of an Auckland Police Officer. I contacted Benny** and explained the story of the Allen medals and who I had identified as the descendant. I asked Benny if he knew Jodie Lawrence and if so, could he put me in touch with her? Yes, and yes – Benny emailed Jodie with the details. In due course I received an email from Jodie who was overwhelmed to hear that the WW1 medals of her great-grandfather had surfaced, a man she had never known, and that she would be receiving them.
The early death of Jodie’s own mother (Barbara) and grandmother (Emily) togeher with still births and childless marriages within the Allen lineage meant the field of descendant options for the medals was sparse. Whilst Clive Allen and his whereabouts had not yet been identified. As Jodie was the first confirmed direct descendant of Charles Allen who I had made contact with, it was her lucky day! As I have always maintained, MRNZ’s intent is to put any medals found/donated back into family ownership of a person who is as close as is practicable in lineage to the original recipient. It matters not who that person is and custody arrangements of such medals is purely a matter for the family.
In this stunning coincidence of police connections, John Wills was both amazed and surprised when I told him the person I had identified to receive the medals was a serving police officer based at National Police HQ, Wellington. Senior Sergeant Jodie Lawrence was to be the recipient of the medals of her great-grandfather, the late Corporal Charles Allen, 1st Company NZMGB, NZEF. In discussing the handover with Jodie, she mentioned she was also due to receive her NZ Police long service medal and so the arrangements were conjoined to enable all three medals to be presented at the same ceremony. John, who routinely mounts NZ Police long service medals for presentation, generously offered to also prepare Charles Allen’s medals for the occasion.
Jodie and I remained in touch to ensure all boxes were ticked for the transfer of medal ownership and to co-ordinate a date, time and place for the presentation. A NZ Police Media Unit representative enthusiastically agreed to cover the event.
Note: ** You can read Benny’s reunited medal case here: “MACK”
Service honoured & medals reunited
Regrettably I was unable to attend the presentation in Wellington however donor Ian Douglas and John Wills were on hand to do the honours. What made the occasion particularly significant for Snr. Sgt Lawrence was, not only had she been honoured with the NZ Police Long Service & Good Conduct Medal for 28 years of unblemished service, as well as being presented with her great-grandfather’s war medals by Ian Wilson, but also attending the presentation was one of Jodie’s daughters, Police Cadet Heidi Redfern who was about to graduate from Wing 378 of the NZ Police College the next day. MRNZ’s heartiest congratulations to you both!
To say the occasion was somewhat overwhelming and an emotional one for the Lawrence family would be a considerable understatement.
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Thanks to John Wills and Ian Douglas for making this return of medals possible. To Benny, and the NZ Police Media Unit for their co-ordinated contributions, many thanks for helping to make the occasion memorable.
Published Post medal tally is 516 (this figure may fluctuate until the Published Post total exceeds 519).
Grand Total of medals reunited with families is now 797.