In September 2023 Ella, a Production Manager for Warner Bros International Television Productions (WBITVP) New Zealand, contacted me with the details of a story they were preparing for a television series that related to a mystery surrounding medals which a family owned but had no idea who they belonged to.  This story would be one of a number being filmed for an up-coming TV series entitled My Family Mystery.  Ella wanted someone who could talk with the host of the show, Sonia Gray (TV1’s Lotto presenter) about the medals, the context in which they would have been given and how MRNZ went about locating families to return medals to.  Fully cognisant of the fact that my ageing visage had little to warrant a late-in-life screen career, I agreed anyway (better to be asked late than never).

The mystery unfolds …

Finn’s great-grandfather (Frederick George Waldour MARTEN) had been a World War II veteran soldier who had kept his war medals and other bits of related memorabilia in a box for the past 60 plus years.  When Fred Marten passed away in Auckland in 1990, his grandson Finn inherited the box.  Apart from his  grandfather’s medals, among the contents of the box Finn found three World War One medals in a black cloth bag.  Each was named around the edge, two named to the same man and all three showing the soldiers had served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). 

Finn’s family had no idea of who the men were, they were not names known within the family’s ancestors neither did they have any idea why or how Fred had acquired them.  When Finn spotted an advertisement seeking families with an unresolved mystery for a TV series, he approached WBITVP with the mystery medals keen to find out who the men were and hopefully to return the medals to their families. 

War medals

The three medals were each named with a surname and initials only.  Two medals, a British War Medal, 1914/1918 and a Victory Medal were named to 53920 CPL. J. JONES  N.Z.E.F., while the single medal, also a British War Medal, 1914/1918 was named to 14503 PTE. J. H. TAYLOR  N.Z.E.F. 

The WBITVP researchers had been able to expand these names to identify each soldier, Corporal Joseph Jones and Private Joseph Harold Taylor.  Both were Auckland residents who had died just two years apart in Auckland.  Joseph Jones had married Mary Ann but did not appear to have children, Joseph was a 78 year old retired Labourer whose wife had pre-deceased him when he died in 1950.  Joseph Harold Taylor (whom I have named “Harry” to distinguish from the two Josephs) had also married and was without children.  May, his wife was 57 years of age at the time of Harry’s death in 1952, at age 63.  What had happened to each soldier’s medals in the intervening years and how they had come into the possession of Frederick Marten was a mystery that needed unravelling before they could be passed on to any descendants who may be alive.

With this information and a small photograph of two medals sent to me by the production Manager, I began my own research (homework) in preparation for their visit to Nelson for some live filming.  The first thing I needed to do was to verify that what WB ITVP researchers had come up with was accurate (mistakes can be embarrassing if it results in the wrong family or the wrong medal recipient being arrived at).  After verifying their information, the critical part of the process was then to identify to whom exactly the medals should be returned to.  While it is our policy to introduce any medal that is returned, simply into to the medal recipient’s living descendant lineage (that might not necessarily be the closest living link to the recipient), ideally we will endeavour to return a medal to a male who bears the medal recipient’s last name.  This helps to perpetuate familial ownership with an identifiable descendant and tends to have greater relevance to an owner when handed down to someone of the same last name.  Of course this very much depends on a family’s structure (males vs females) and the availability of legatees given the vagaries marriages/divorces/deaths can create among surviving offspring.  

The soldiers …

53920 Corporal Joseph JONES – 1st (Canterbury-Otago) Battalion, NZ Rifle Brigade.  Born on 28 May 1873 at Portwood, Stockport in Cheshire LANCSHIRE to parents William Jones (a Hawker of Lamp Oil) and Jane GASKILL.  Joseph was the fourth child of nine siblings.  He started work as Cotton Spinner in a textile factory at Stockport at 14 years of age until the formation of the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) in 1889.  Joseph enlisted as a Gunner in the RGA at the age of 16 that same year.  On 25 Nov 1893, Joseph (20) married 21 year old Cotton Tinter Mary Ann GREENWOOD (1872-1946) at Stockport.  By 1901, having completed his 12 years ‘With the Colours’ Joseph and Mary Ann emigrated to NZ and settled in Auckland.  Labouring jobs for Joseph followed until the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914.  At this point in time Joseph was a Quarryman for the Portland Cement Company. 

A month shy of his 43rd birthday, Joseph Jones volunteered for war service and re-enlisted on 24 April 1917 (he clearly stretched the truth claiming he was 33 years of age on his medical documentation).  Enlisted with the rank of a Temporary Corporal for the purposes on maintaining discipline within his company (13th Coy.) during the voyage to England, Joseph embarked for Plymouth with the 1^st Battalion, Canterbury Infantry Regt, arriving in September at Sling Camp, the NZ Base Depot on the Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire where he reverted in rank to Private.

To France in October, Pte. Jones was again promoted to L/Cpl. on the basis of his prior maturity and experience in the RGA.  He was posted to 13 Company and joined his battalion in the field on 19 Dec 1917.  In June 1918 L/Cpl. Jones was promoted to Corporal, a Section Commander in charge of 12 men.  Just two months later Cpl. Jones was wounded in both legs by shrapnel (non-life threatening) on 26 August as the battalion was preparing to engage in the Battle of Bapaume (31 Aug – 3 Sep 1918).   Evacuated to No.1 NZ General Hospital at Brockenhurst in England, Jones was fit enough to be discharged from hospital to take local leave on 8 October.  As the Armistice had been declared on 11 November 1918 there was no requirement for him to return to France and so he returned to the NZEF Base HQ at Codford.  Cpl. Jones returned to NZ on the SS Ayreshire in Nov 1918. 

Following the war, Joseph and Mary Jones Ann were occupying a house along the Great South Road at Westfield.  Joseph returned to work as a Labourer, remaining in that occupation until he retired.  By 1927 they had moved to Riverview Road in the Ellerslie-Otahuhu suburb and remained there for the rest of their lives.  Joseph Jones’s wife Mary Ann (75) died at their Riverview Road home on 11 Oct 1945 and Joseph on 31 July 1950, aged 78.  I later discovered that Joseph’s younger brother Edmund Jones, also a Labourer born at Stockport in 1875, had come to Auckland circa 1907.  He had died in 1945, aged 72.

Medals: British War Medal, 1914/18 and Victory Medal + Silver War Badge (SWB #NZ13847) + King’s Discharge Certificate for having been declared permanently unfit for further war service on account of his wounds.

Service Overseas: 1 year  164 days 

Total NZEF Service: 1 year  263 days (plus 12 years Royal Garrison Artillery, UK)

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Notes: ** Two of Joseph Jones’ younger brothers served with British regiments during WW1. 

• 31865 Private Thomas JONES – The Kings (Liverpool) Regiment.  Born in 1878, Thomas was 36 years of age when he enlisted.  His service however was very brief lasting just three days before he was discharged with a number of medical ailments, the least of which was his requirement to have dentures! 

• The youngest member of the Jones family, born in 1883, was Private Albert Jones, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regt.  Albert was Killed in Action during the 2nd Battle of Ypres on 9 May 1915 at the age of 32. 

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14503 Private Joseph Harold TAYLOR – 2nd Battalion, Wellington Infantry Regt – 14the Reinforcements.  Born at Binnington, Stockport, Cheshire in Lancashire on 15 Jan 1889, Harry’s father Joseph Taylor (1861-) originally hailed from Leek in Staffordshire while his mother Mary Ann DOYLE (1858-) was born and raised in Liverpool.  Joseph Taylor Snr. had been a Railway Porter however by 1891 had become a Salesman for a Coach Painting business, hawking samples and products associated with this trade to other coach painting firms. 

The Taylors had only two (known) children, sons John William and Joseph Harold, both born at Portwood, Stockport.**  By 1901 the Taylors had moved temporarily to No.4 in the Pollards Building at Gorton, Ardwick in South Manchester.  Here and subsequently at 56 Henry Street in West Gorton the boys spent the majority of their early years.  Another move to Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester was just a few kilometers from the Salford Quays.  The quays were situated in the uppermost reaches of the Irwell River which was connected to series of canals and locks designed to ferry goods to and from Manchester City to the Ports of Liverpool and Birkenhead.  The Irwell and Mersey Navigation as it was called drained into the Mersey River basin at the southern end of the Port of Liverpool this providing access to the terminals on the south and north banks of the Mersey at the river mouth.

Note: ** Stockport and Portwood, Cheshire at this time were adjoining suburbs.  Now simply known as Stockport, in practical terms they are just four minutes apart by car in what is now part of south-eastern Greater Manchester.  This has some bearing on whether Joseph Jones and Joseph Harold Taylor actually knew each other? 

John William Taylor (1886-), the elder of the two boys, had started labouring in the textile industry at age 12, later training as a Fitter & Turner at 14 with making metal rollers for the industry.  By 1911 he was a fully capable Capstan Lathe Operator.  Manchester was a manufacturing hub not only for textiles which was one of its largest outputs for the country and the world, but also for numerous metal products.  All was well in the Taylor family until WW1 intervened.** 

Around 1899, Harry was packed off to the Chorlton Union Workhouse (about 10kms from Stockport, later became Withington Hospital) which was a large complex that not only housed poor families but had a substantial hospital and school.  Besides the resident children of these families, additional children were boarded at the school who otherwise would have remained at home.  Harry lived at home and became a boarder at the school until 1901 when he turned twelve years of age.  At that point he returned home and began his first paying job.  The 1901 Census shows him to be employed as a ‘Port Messenger’ (a message boy). In due course Harry graduated to heavier labouring jobs around the Quays until becoming a Clerk.

On the 7th April 1911, Harry then around 20 years of age, left London on the SS Ruapehu for New Zealand and six weeks later disembarked at Napier.  Prior to the World War 1 Harry Taylor had worked on a farm in Pukekohe for a couple of years before moving closer to Auckland City to take up a position with the NZ Railways at Manurewa.  Having volunteered for war service it was here he received orders  to proceed to Wellington to begin training for the NZ Expeditionary Force (NZEF).

Note: ** Harry’s brother John Taylor also served. 

204903 / 503564 Sapper John William TAYLOR – Royal Engineers (IW & DC), Inland Waterways and Dock Companies.  John was 29 when he enlisted in Oct 1916.  He arrived in France in December and survived the war without major incident, discharging from the Royal Engineers in October 1918. 

John Jones had married a Stockport girl, Clara ROYLE, before the war and left the Jones family’s Henry Street address for their own house at 9 Savoy Street on Hyde Road, West Gorton.  Harry listed this address for his UK Next of Kin (his father) on enlistment into the NZEF which assumes John and Harry’s parents had also moved to West Gorton by 1916.  Their move to West Gorton is confirmed by subsequent census entries.

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Harry’s WW1 service

At 27 years of age, Private Joseph H. Taylor began his military training on 7 Mar 1916 at Trentham Camp.  Following his Attestation to serve for the duration of the war, 10 weeks were spent at the Featherston Training Camp in the Wairarapa where all infantry soldiers learned their basic skills.  Aside from a minor indiscretion while at Featherston for Failing to Obey a Lawful Command by an NCO which netted Harry two days CB (Confinement to Barracks, this simply meant he was not allowed to leave camp and would be worked and paraded multiple times after hours by way of corrective punishment), the 5′ 4” soldier whose left leg was two inches shorter than his right (the result of a broken thigh bone when he was a teenager; “no handicap” said the Medical Officer) was deemed ready to embark for overseas service by June 1916.

Citing a friend (Mrs Hawke) of King Street, Pukekohe as his NZ Next of Kin (his primary NOK was his father Joseph in West Gorton, Manchester), Harry embarked on the troopship HMNZT 57 Tahiti with the remainder of the 14 Reinforcements and departed Wellington on 26 June for Devonport, England via the Suez Canal.  Another indiscretion during the voyage to Suez – Failing to Obey Ship’s Orders – cost Harry a fine of 8 shillings (80 cents) plus a Forfeiture of Pay to the tune of two shillings and sixpence (25 cents) – obviously worth much more to a soldier in those days.  Harry’s pattern of behaviour might have suggested to some that he had become a less willing soldier than when he had volunteered? 

On arrival at Devonport on 22 August, the Reinforcements were entrained to Sling Camp for further training.  Posted to the Otago Company of the 2nd Training Battalion, Harry soon found himself in more strife.  Another two shillings and sixpenny fine for Untidy Quarters was a precursor to a more serious infraction at Christmas 1916.  Harry was charged While On Active Service, Overstaying Leave from midnight 26 Dec 1916 (Boxing Day) until 1045 a.m. on 29 December – 2 days and 22.75 hours.  I would bet money he was not the only one AWL at that time of year!  For this Harry received 168 hours (seven days) in the cells.  But things got worse.

On 17 January 1917 Pte. Harry Taylor was up on a charge again!  This time however he had gone too far.  Charged with, While Being On Active Service, Conduct to the Prejudice of Good Order and Military Discipline, Harry had taken the unprecedented step of writing a letter directly to the NZ High Commissioner in London asking to be Discharged from the NZEF.  His actions clearly ruffled sufficiently high ranking feathers at the NZEF Headquarters in London to ensure retribution for such temerity would be swift and decisive.  Following seven days of Detention (in the cells), Pte. Taylor was given 14 days of CB.  In addition he was fined and forfeited 31 days pay.  To say that Harry Taylor’s future in the NZEF was tenuous at best was an understatement. 

By 5 February, Private Joseph Harold Taylor had been medically examined and found to be “permanently unfit” for continued service.  Being a native of the United Kingdom, he was dispatched to London the next day to be Medically Discharged.  On the 7th he was  Struck Off the NZEF establishment.  With no details on his file to indicate the nature of Harry’s lack of medical fitness, given the High Commission letter episode it could be proffered Harry may have been suffering from some form of dysfunction or neurasthenia (nerves) making him unemployable, had become a disciplinary problem likely to cause further embarrassment to the NZEF or, he had found a way to ‘work his ticket’?  The speed of his discharge indicated there was clearly a desire by NZEF HQ London to be shot of Pte. Taylor from the Army – and quickly!  For all that was not written about Harry’s service in England, he would still be entitled to a medal after the war.  

Medals: British War Medal, 1914/18 (full entitlement)

Service Overseas: 226 days (UK only)

Total NZEF Service: 337 days

Why Harry Taylor did not get the Victory Medal?  Harry’s medal, the 1914/18 British War Medal was awarded to any service person in uniform mobilized for war service whether serving in their home country or overseas.  The Victory Medal which generally accompanied the British War Medal was only issued to those persons who had entered a theatre of war, e.g. Gallipoli, France or Belgium.  The 1914/18 Star was only awarded for service by someone who was mobilized and had entered a theatre of war before 31 December 1915.  This was most frequently awarded to NZEF personnel who had been in Egypt or Gallipoli.  Since Harry Taylor had been discharged in England before getting to France, he was only entitled to the one medal.

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Return to NZ

In retrospect, maybe there had been a good reason (in Harry’s mind) for his taking his chances by going AWL irrespective of the punishment – a girl?  While visiting his parents in West Gorton, Harry married local girl, May HOWARTH (1897-1961) in Dec 1916.  May had lived not far from the Chorlton Union Workhouse where Harry had gone to school.  For the next eight years Harry and May lived at 90 Thomas Street off Clowes St, West Gorton however no children eventuated from their marriage.  Harry continued in labouring work for some years before becoming a Warehouse Man while May worked as a Laundress.  Despite his truncated military service with the NZEF, Harry must have liked his NZ experience before the war.  Perhaps thinking it could offer a better future than  post-war England, Harry (34) and May (28) emigrated from Liverpool to New Zealand aboard the SS Suffolk on 7 June 1924.

On arrival in Auckland the couple soon established themselves in a residence at 9 Kitchener Road, Takapuna where Harry again took up labouring work.   Sadly their only attempt to have a child in 1927 resulted in a still birth.  From 1928 onwards, the Taylors resided at 124 Panama Road in Otahuhu, Harry being employed at the Mt Wellington Railway Workshops as a Clerk.  It was at their Panama Road home on 27 October 1952 that Joseph Harold Taylor died at the age of 57, his occupation listed as “Civil Servant”.  Harry Taylor was cremated and his ashes interred in the Soldiers’ Section of the Waikumete Cemetery.  May Taylor remained at Panama Road for several more years before moving to Whangarei at some point after 1954.  May lived alone at 129 Onerahi Road until passing away on 23 August 1961, aged 65.

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Joining the JONES & TAYLOR dots . . .     

On the face of it Joseph Jones and Joseph H. Taylor simply appeared to have been two Stockport men who had come to NZ pre-WW1 for no particular reason other than for one of them, Jones, it was circumstances of employment (Jones, the ship’s steward who appeared to have been recently arrived on a ship’s crew proximate to the outbreak of war), and for the other, Taylor, a returning pre-war visitor from the UK who later emigrated to NZ permanently after the war.

The question of how their medals came to be found together was also a curious aspect of this case for which I had no immediate answer.  In analysing the information I had gathered about the two men, there were a number of common denominators.  For instance, both men had been born in Stockport, Cheshire which borders Greater Manchester and Merseyside – Joseph Jones in 1873 and Joseph H. Taylor in 1898 with 25 years the difference in their ages.  

Both men had enlisted in the NZEF – Jones in 1917 and Taylor a year earlier in 1916, albeit Jones had fought in France and served until the end of the war, while the younger Taylor had been medically discharged in 1917 after just 10 months of service in NZ and England.  The Census records showed that after Harry Taylor returned to NZ in 1924, both men had been living in adjoining suburbs of Auckland, their houses being less than a kilometer apart, Jones living in Riverview Road, Mt. Wellington and Taylor at 124 Panama Road, Mt. Wellington – less than 800 meters apart.  Both men were married however neither had children.  The burning question in my mind was – did they actually know each other or was a coincidence?

Theorising a few possibilities to support either a they ‘did know’ or a ‘did not know’ each other I considered the following – could it be that Joseph Jones in being the elder of the two men, may have simply befriended a fellow countryman after learning both had originated from the same town in Cheshire?  If they had met and given Taylor’s youthful age, was it possible Joseph Jones might have considered Harry perhaps as a ‘son’ he had never had?  Given they had come from the same town, was it also possible the Jones and Taylor families actually knew each other?…. and that Joseph Jones may have had a responsibility for caring oversight of the younger man, at the request of Harry’s family?  None of these circumstances could be discounted at this stage.

Additional to these suppositions was the fact that there were obvious opportunities that may have caused both men’s paths to cross.  As both were considered “returned men” following the war, it was highly likely in those heady post-WW1 days of euphoria and celebration of peace, that both men were members of an Anzac Club (precursor to the formation of the RSA) or an RSA branch (started in 1916), or indeed any other grouping returned soldiers wanting to maintain their comradery and bonds begun as a result of their war service.  There was the possibility both men had also been members of a club or fraternal lodge – the Freemasons, Buffaloes, Oddfellows, Foresters Lodge etc which were very popular in England.  Most had established brother chapters in NZ in most countries of the Empire with an English Constitutions as their charter.  Given that both men had for the best part of forty odd years lived in close proximity, even if they were not disposed to joining a veteran’s organisation, a fraternity or were not frequenters of hotels, the chances of both men meeting on a commemorative occasion such as Armistice Day (11 Nov) and Anzac Day 25 Apr), being introduced by a colleague or friend, a meeting through employment, recreational or sporting club membership, whilst out shopping or simply taking a recreational stroll about their suburbs all presented distinct possibilities for the men to hav known each other.  However, there was as yet no proof of this.

Answers in the detail …

In seeking any sort of affirmation for any of these possibilities, my musings (and more) were answered whilst examining the death documentation of both men.  The Last Will and Testament are often included with Probate documents publicly available from Archives New Zealand.  

The first thing I discovered was Harry Taylor who died in December 1952, died Intestate (without a Will).  Without a Will (or children) his wife would automatically inherit his possessions if he pre-deceased her.  There was little else of use in Harry’s document to advance my search for descendants.  Joseph Jones on the other hand (and fortunately) who died in July 195o, had died Testate however his wife had predeceased him.  He had been a Widower also without children.  My immediate thought was that this is going to be a problem – no wife (no legatee), no children …. but Joesph’s Will contained two revelations that allowed me to pull many of the inconclusive strands of this case together and a way forward.

Joseph Jones had made his Will in 1947 five years before his death and the Courts had duly declared Probate for his estate shortly afterwards.  The first revelation was that Joseph had family in New Zealand.  In Joseph’s Will was the reference to a monetary legacy (£370/-) which had been “bequeathed to him by his late brother, Frederick Jones, late of Howick, Retired Farmer, deceased who died on or about 22nd day of September, 1942.”  This was a breakthrough as it meant there might be a chance Frederick Jones had living descendants in NZ.

My research of Frederick Jones (1868-1942) showed he also had been born in Stockport, the third eldest of the Jones’ siblings, who had emigrated to NZ sometime around 1890.  Initially settling at Warkworth, in 1903 he acquired some land at Matamata and established what became a prosperous sheep and cropping farm.  In December 1896, Frederick married an Irish woman from Co Tyrone (Carricklongfield, Aghaloo, Dungannon), Isabella ANDERSON (1872-1950) whose family lived at Flemington, Ashburton.  Frederick and Isabella did not have any biological children however had adopted a nine year old girl named Edna Audrey Brooking JONES (b1948).  The circumstances of Edna’s adoption are unknown but her existence has a significant bearing on the conclusion of this case.

The clincher was the second revelation – proof positive Joseph Jones and Harry Taylor knew each other, whether before or after coming to NZ is not known. Joseph Jones had appointed Joseph Harold Taylor to be the “sole Executor and Trustee of this my Will.”  From this it was evident how both men’s war medals had ended up together.  Harry as the sole beneficiary had kept Joseph’s medals with his own.  

BUT ! …. isn’t there always a but ?

Although Harry had been present when Joseph signed his Will making Harry his Executor and Trustee, after Joseph’s death a document was placed on the file showing that Harry must have either got ‘cold feet’ for some reason, or had been advised by the Will’s administrator, as he had signed a document withdrawing his responsibility as Executor and Trustee of Joseph’s Will.  These he relinquished to the Public Trust(ee).   Nothing particularly sinister in this but rather a case I think of Harry agreeing to be Joseph’s Executor and Trustee on the spur of the moment while not fully comprehending what was involved until Joseph actually died!   

A document on Joseph’s Probate file explains to some extent why he did this ….“I, Joseph Harold Taylor, appoints the Public Trustee as the sole Executor and Trustee of the said Will in my place and stead as if the said deceased had himself made such appointment himself AND I DECLARE the reasons influencing me in making such appoint are as follows: 

1. That I desired to obtain the protection given to estates administered by the Public Trustee;
2. That I desire to obtain the special facilities available to the Public Trustee in the administration of estates
3. That I do not desire to undertake the work and trouble involved in assuming the duties of Executor on account of my lack of business experience.

This would have no impact upon Joseph’s wishes for Harry to be his beneficiary.  Joseph’s medals would still have come to him.

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Finn’s Gt-Grandfather and the medals

When Harry Taylor (63) died in 1952, it could be logical assumed that his own and Joseph’s medals would still have been retained by Widow May Taylor until her death.  The fact that Harry Taylor had died Intestate was no impediment to May automatically assuming ownership of Harry’s possessions.  By virtue of their marriage it was a wife’s legal right to consider her husband’s possessions to be her own unless specifically excluded by some prior written direction or there is an overriding legal impediment, such as possessions that are proven to be stolen goods.  But ownership of the medals did not stop there.  In 1961 when May Taylor died in Whangarei, it was discovered that she also was Intestate!

The estate of persons who die Intestate with no children or known descendant family to consider becomes the responsibility of the  Public Trust.  The Trust is a government agency entrusted to wind up a deceased’s estate by disposing of the assets and paying all debts, including the Trust’s own statutory costs which may include the arrangement of a pauper’s burial/cremation (no headstone/grave marker) where no prior arrangement has been made.  The money to cover these costs is gained by the sale of the deceased’s assets at public auction, the proceeds being part of the estate.  

Assuming May Taylor’s estate was auctioned, the three medals if not previously gifted to Finn’s great-grandfather Fred Marten by either Joseph Jones personally or some other who may have had ownership prior or after Joseph’s death, the medals conceivably could have been acquired by Fred by attending an estate auction that had included them – we will never know.  Irrespective of how Fred acquired the medals, his guardianship of them had ultimately resulted in his great-grandson Finn inheriting them. 

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So, where to now ?

Having established the background to the men behind the medals, the next step was to ascertain if there were any living descendants in NZ to return them to.  Knowing that both men whilst married had not children, the prospect of finding a family link in NZ seemed slim.  The answer came from studying the family of Joseph’s brother Frederick Jones.  In constructing Fred’s part of the Jones family tree and developing each branch of its various members, it became evident there was only one line to follow that could provide a link.  Remember nine year old Edna Audrey Brooking Jones who Fred and Isabella adopted? – whilst Fred and Isabella had not had any biological children of their own, it was through adopted Edna’s descendant family I was able to reach a conclusion. 

Edna Jones had married Englishman Joseph Alexander “Alec” BOYES and together they had a family three children born in the Matamata/Cambridge area of the Waikato, the eldest being a  daughter Eileen Audrey BOYES.  In due course Eileen married Putararu born George Rothwell WHITE, a Shop Manager, and they also had three children – Brian, Jan and Phillipa.  The most recent address associated with George and Eileen White had been 75 Coronation Street, Morrinsville where they had lived most of their married lives since 1959 after leaving Te Aroha.  George eventually moved into a retirement home back in Te Aroha where he sadly passed away in 2014.  His obituary published in the NZ Herald gave me some key clues for family points of contact, and read in part:  “… Father of Brian & Bev White, Jan and Harley, Philippa and Aaron and grandad (Poppa) of Kelly & James, Nicole and Kyle and Olivia”.  This was good news for me as it isolated a geographic area and a number of associated persons who appeared not to have been itinerant. 

This information also did away with the need to seek information from the officiating funeral company of George White’s funeral (Sadliers of Morrinsville).  I was now able to search for links to the eldest family sibling – Brian White.  Brian’s mum, now Eileen Audrey Brooking WHITE (nee Jones), is the grand-niece of Joseph Jones thus Brian is Joseph’s great-grand nephew.  After a search of the Bay of Plenty and Waikato census records together with a few trial and error phone calls, I managed to trace Brian in rural Waikato.  I related the circumstances of the medal find to Brian and advised him he would shortly be contacted by a television producer from WBITVP to discuss a proposal (providing he was agreeable) for him to be personally presented with the medals (on camera).  Brian agreed and so it was over to the producer and her crew to do their stuff to “get it in the can” as the film makers say, for this particular episode of My Family Mystery.

While it had been Joseph Jones’ expressed wish for his fellow countryman Joseph Taylor to have his estate (incl medals), irrespective of the circumstances Finn’s great-grandfather had acquired the medals, he unknowingly became an invaluable link which ensured the medals not only survived but remained together for more than six decades after the death of both the soldiers and their wives. 

Finn recently had the pleasure of meeting with Brian White, fittingly at the Auckland War Memorial Museum which was the venue chosen by the show’s producers for the medals to be handover to Brian, thus bringing to an end Finn’s historical family mystery.

As the newest custodian of the medals, Brian will be able to ensure a continuous succession of guardianship into the foreseeable future for Joseph and Harry’s medals, as he has both a son and grandson who in due course will inherit responsibility for the safekeeping of the medals.

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My thanks to Ella, Sarah, Gail and Sonia for inviting MRNZ to collaborate in solving this mystery and sharing our work with New Zealanders. 

My Family Mystery screens on TV1 from 21 July 2024 …. tune in for this episode scheduled to go to air on 28 July.

The reunited medal tally is now 512.

John Lind McLean was a quiet man.  When this retired Southland farmer died in 1997, he did so miles away from the place he had called home for most of his life.  Those who had known the man they called ‘Jack’ in fact knew little about him at all.  Jack who had been a bachelor farmer all his life, was retired when he arrived in Richmond, Nelson some thirty years before in the mid-1960s.  With no known family connections in Marlborough or the Tasman Jack had died almost anonymously with the exception of the few fellow pensioner veterans he met with at the Waimea or Nelson RSA.   When he died the RSA had made the necessary arrangements for an informal burial in the RSA Section of the Marsden Cemetery in Nelson.  As a result his medals had ended up with the Nelson RSA executive.  Because there was no-one in evidence to pass Jack’s medals on to, they remained in the custody of Nelson RSA for the next 25 years.   The re-discovery of Jack’s medals and a copy of his Discharge Certificate at a time the Nelson RSA was affecting a move to a new facility in Stoke prompted the President to contact MRNZ to see whether we could locate a McLean family descendant to return the medals to. 

War clouds

John Lind McLean was born on 4 April 1911 at Thornbury, a small township on the east bank of the lower Aparima River in Western Southland, about 10 kilometres north-east of Riverton.  Eighteen months later, farmers James McLean and Magdalene (nee LIND) welcomed a daughter, Mona Magdalene McLEAN (1912-2002).  The siblings grew up on the family farm at Gladfield, north of Riverton and about 5 kilometres east of Otautau.  At the age of fourteen Jack won a free senior place to attend the Riverton District High School after topping the merit list for passing the Matriculation and Senior Scholarship Examinations in 1926.  Following his schooling, Jack returned to work as a Farm Hand on the family farm at Gladfield, eventually moving into his own accommodation at Wrights Bush.

When War was declared in September 1939 and it became clear that New Zealand was going to commit an Infantry Division (15-20,000 soldiers) to the British and Allied Forces, recruiting centres were inundated with volunteers.  28 year old Jack McLean was in two minds to volunteer, finally deciding it was better to volunteer than to face the stigma of conscription.  Jack enlisted at Invercargill on 28 June 1940, just days ahead of the cut-off date for voluntary enlistment – 22 July 1940, after which balloted national conscription of single eligible men was to commence.

2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force 

The government’s announcement of its intention to raise and train an Infantry Division-sized Expeditionary Force as this countries contribution to Britain following the declaration of war on Germany, mobilised a large number of territorial volunteers who formed the basis of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF).  This followed our First World War commitment to the Empire which had been the 1st NZEF, or just NZEF.    Naval volunteers were attached to serve with the Royal Navy while Air Force volunteers were tested for basic flight capabilities to supply aircrew – pilots, observers/navigators and air gunners.  These would undergo selection for suitability in NZ and then be trained in the advanced skills in either New Zealand, or in Canada  as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS).

NZ’s commitment of soldiers comprised an Infantry Division of three Rifle battalions (18th, 19th and 20th) plus supporting arms of artillery, engineers, signals, transport & supply, to be called the 2nd NZ (Infantry) Division (2 NZ Div) commanded by Major-General Bernard Freyberg VC.  The 15–20,000 troops required for the NZ Division were to be deployed in three Echelons.

The 20th Battalion was formed in Christchurch at Burnham Military Camp on 6 October 1939, with Lieutenant-Colonel Howard Kippenberger of Rangiora in command.  Its personnel (all volunteers) were drawn from the South Island. The battalion was formed into four rifle companies, designated from A to D which corresponded to the Canterbury, Southland, Nelson-Marlborough-West Coast and Otago districts.   A headquarters company included the specialist support troops; signallers, anti-aircraft and mortar platoons, and transport personnel.

20th (NZ) Battalion

The 1st Echelon landed in Egypt in Feb 1940, while the 2nd Echelon was diverted to Britain upon Italy’s entry into the war and did not reach Egypt until March 1941.  The bulk of the 20th Battalion arrived at its base in Maadi, Egypt on 14 February 1940 and was quickly engaged in further training, including brigade level exercises. It also received its infantry support weaponry, such as the Bren light machine gun, Boyes anti-tank rifle and 2-inch mortar.  As well as training, the battalion performed garrison duty at a defensive position known as the Baggush Box, in the Western Desert as well as guarding the route between Alexandria and Mersa Matrush, rotating in and out with the other battalions of the 4th Brigade, for most of the next 12 months.

Back in NZ, 15927 Private John Lind McLean was mobilised with some 3000 Infantry reinforcement personnel who had been assembled as part of the 3rd Echelon.  The Third Echelon left New Zealand on 27 August 1940 and arrived in Egypt on the 29 September thereby completing the concentration of the 2nd NZ Division (the Div.) in North Africa.

Greece

The Allied entry into the war had forced the German Army to invaded Greece on the 6 April 1941 in support of their Italian allies.  After a relatively limited period of training in Egypt, the Div’s 4th Brigade, one of a number of Allied units, was dispatched to Greece in early March 1941 to help defend it from the Italians who were advancing from the north.  

The 4th NZ Infantry Brigade was tasked with the defence of the Aliakmon Line in northern Greece with the 20th Battalion preparing and manning the defences along the western end of the line.  On 6 April, the Germans invaded Greece and their advance was so rapid that it quickly threatened the Florina Gap.  The brigade was withdrawn to the Servia Pass where it manned defences until the Germans reached the Pass on 14 April.  The lightly-equipped Allies defended the Pass for three days until forced to withdraw towards the Mediterranean coast, the 4th Brigade being used to provide a protection force to cover their withdrawal.  The Brigade was then moved to Porto Rafti, east of Athens, from where it was evacuated to Crete.  

The evacuation from Greece began on 28 April 1941 and as the men embarked onto the waiting ships, in order to take the maximum number aboard, the soldiers were forced to throw everything they carried over the side except their rifles and ammunition.  Radios, digging tools and heavy weapons were all dumped in the sea before anyone was taken on board.

Crete

In May 1941, many of the weary and ill-equipped troops evacuated from Greece that were landed on the island of Crete became its Garrison Force.  The island was placed under the command of General Bernard Freyberg VC, the commander of 2NZEF.  After the island sustained two weeks of intense bombing, Crete was subjected to the first total airborne invasion in history.  The Kiwis bore the brunt of the attack and after 3 days of tough fighting, Maleme Airfield (the key to the control of Crete) was taken by the Germans.  

On Crete, the 20th Battalion was positioned to the east of the town of Galatas.  On 22 May, it was used in a counterattack on Maleme airfield, which had been allowed to be occupied by the Germans the previous day. The late arrival of its relief meant the battalion was late to its starting position. The attack was unsuccessful and resulted in heavy casualties, although not as high as the Germans’ own losses.

When Galatas fell to the Germans on 25 May, the 20th Battalion was in danger of being cut off. It successfully regrouped and assisted in the recapture of the town.  The battalion withdrew on 26 May, which marked the beginning of a retreat to Hora Sfakion, on the southwest coast of Crete.  Once the evacuation commenced it became clear that not all those still on the island would escape. Thousands of men were left behind and these men were ordered to surrender, with many spending the rest of the war in prison camps in Italy or Germany.  The Allied Force was forced to withdraw over mountains to evacuate the island.  As in Greece, the 2oth Battalion fought a number of rear-guard actions to stop the following Germans.  On arrival at the evacuation beaches, it was found that there was insufficient room on the Australian destroyers designated as transport for all of the battalion’s personnel.  While the bulk of the battalion was evacuated on 30 May, Kippenberger was forced to select 40 men to stay behind and form a rear guard under the command of Burrows.  After manning defensive positions to prevent Germans infiltrating the cordon around the evacuation beaches, the rear-guard was evacuated the following day.  About 6,500 soldiers had surrendered while a few escaped into the hills and attempted to find their own way back to Egypt.

 North Africa

The 20th Battalion was evacuated to Egypt having lost over half its original complement of personnel during the Greece and Crete campaigns.  After a short period of rest, Kippenberger set about bringing the battalion back up to strength.  Nearly 400 replacements joined the battalion and stragglers, separated from the battalion for various reasons during the previous two months while in Greece and Crete, continued to arrive for several weeks as they made their way across the Mediterranean by various means, including small sailboats. By mid-June, the battalion was at full strength and several weeks were spent at the battalion’s previous positions at Baggush, engaged in intensive desert training.

Operation CRUSADER

In November 1941, the 20th Battalion was a participant in Operation Crusader, the British Eighth Army’s offensive to halt the drive of the Axis forces (German and Italian) towards Egypt in the North African desert.  

On the night of 25 November, the 20th battalion along with the 18th Battalion was tasked with the night-time capture of Belhamed, a hill adjacent to the Sidi Rezegh escarpment in Libya, and which overlooked an airfield where other elements of 2nd NZ Div. were dug in.  The securing of Belhamed and Sidi Rezegh were considered essential if the corridor across the airfield to Tobruk on the Mediterranean coast was to be kept open.  The 20th was in place in its expected position having taken the Belhamed with few losses. 

On 26 November the men were still digging in as they came under attack from heavy artillery, mortar, and small-arms fire from a strong enemy pocket situated in a depression between Belhamed and Sidi Rezegh.  Casualties mounted steadily and the pocket of entrenched enemy became the objective of 20th Battalion.  

Rommel had concentrated almost his entire force of heavy guns on Belhamed.  

After two unsuccessful attempts to relieve Tobruk,  2 NZ Div. as part of the British 8th Army participated in Operation Crusader launched in November 1941.  This was a large-scale infantry and armoured offensive designed to crush the Afrika Korps, lift the siege of Tobruk and force the Axis forces from the Cyrenaica region of Libya.  This operation was the NZ Division’s first experience in desert warfare.

Leading the 4th NZ Inf Brigade (18, 19, 20) on 21 November, the 20th Battalion cut the road between Bardia and Tobruk and attacked several German trucks. While the 4th Brigade continued to advance, the battalion stayed to cover the road, occasionally intercepting and destroying lightly armoured vehicles of the 21st Panzer Division, until 23 November at which time it was relieved and placed in reserve.

Belhamed 

The 6th Brigade (24,25,26) supported by several Valentine tanks to the Sidi Rezegh feature which they did with few losses, capturing 260 German soldiers and three 88 mm guns.  The next day, the 20th Battalion led the 4th Brigade in linking up with the 6th Infantry Brigade, which was struggling to hold onto the gains made at Sidi Rezegh.  On the night of 25 November, the 20th Battalion along with the 18th Battalion was tasked with the night-time capture of Belhamed, a hill adjacent to Sidi Rezegh.  The units advanced to their objective, bayonets fixed, with the 20th Battalion on the left.  Instructed to take no prisoners, Belhamed was quickly seized with minimal losses.  The battalion began digging in and consolidating its position.

On 28 November, the Germans and Italians began a counter attack.  German artillery and mortars were very effective in targeting both Sidi Rezegh and Belhamed over the next three days inflicting numerous casualties while the battalions held firm.  After five days, the battle-weary 2oth Battalion now much reduced in numbers, strained almost to the limit of endurance by the constant pounding by German artillery and mortar fire, crouching in damp slit trenches, cold and hungry for almost six days and night, the 20th doggedly defended its position against repeated attacks.   

The 1st December was disastrous for the 20th.  For some time in the early morning there was complete calm until mid-morning when the 15th Panzer Division appeared in strength, advancing on Belhamed at speed from the south-west.  The merciless shelling together with artillery and mortar fire almost destroyed the battalion.  Accompanied by significant German and Italian infantry, 15 Panzer Division swarmed over Belhamed and Sidi Rezegh.  Units had no other option but to surrender or be annihilated.  Among the surviving prisoners of war (POW) was Pte. Jack McLean.  Only one Rifleman managed to escape capture.

Captured

The 1st December was a disastrous day for the battalion.  For some time in the early morning there was complete calm and then Belhamed began taking German artillery and mortar fire.  Allied artillery responded accounting for many of the tanks until German armour arrived and destroyed this capability.  The casualty toll of 20 Battalion climbed.  The Battalion was ordered to remain in position and that armoured support would be sent to their rescue.  These failed to materialise.  Unbeknown to the 20th Battalion, Rommell’s 15th Panzer Division with its attendant German and Italian infantry and heavy artillery, had positioned themselves to the south of Belhamed.  German armour began its attack, preceded by the infantry that had advanced towards Belhamed in darkness of the early hours of 1 December.  The firepower that was reined onto 20 Battalion’s position was overwhelming and all but destroyed the battalion.  The Panzers and infantry quickly swept over the battalion’s position giving units little option but to surrender or be annihilated.  The survivors, Pte. Jack McLean among become part of the largest group of NZ POWs captured in one action during WW2. 

When Operation Crusader was eventually concluded, 20 Battalion’s casualties were the most significant for the battalion of the entire war; 60 soldiers killed or died of their wounds, and another 126 were wounded.  Op Crusader had been a very costly campaign for the NZ Division.  NZ casualties numbered 4620: 879 killed and 1699 wounded – 2042 men became prisoners of war.  The 2nd New Zealand Division had fought its most costly battle of the war.  The casualties across all units totaled 879 dead and 1700 wounded.

Benghazi, Libya

Stripped of their weapons and searched, the battalion survivors were herded into groups guarded by Italian infantry.  The battalion position was ransacked by both Germans and Italians for food, medical supplies and anything of usefulness and value.  Those in the field hospital were loaded onto trucks while the remainder, including the walking wounded, were marched about two kilometres towards Sidi Rezegh where German medics removed the walking wounded to hospitals.  The remainder continued to march north-west for another four hours with little food or water, towards the enemy’s rear area from where they would be trucked to Benghazi, the main staging point for POWs being shipped to Italy. 

Benghazi was approximately 1000 kilometers west of Belhamed and took two days or considerably longer according to the transport available and the time spent at one or other of the many staging places along the route and manned by Italian infantry.  Overnight stops were made at staging compounds, makeshift barbed wire cages in the open desert, sometimes equipped with Italian bivouac tents for shelter, primitive sanitation, and a little bedding.  Cold nights, with one blanket among three or more and little or no food and water, before going on next day.  Danger also dogged the ‘enemy’ column of vehicles when they were bombed and machine-gunned on occasions by unknowing allied aircraft pilots which resulted in even more casualties. 

At Benghazi the mainly British and New Zealand POWs numbered 6000 plus were kept in an open compound which provided only a limited number of barracks and sheds.  Over 700 had to jam into each draughty, unlit shed at night, the majority sleeping on the concrete floor.  Inadequate food of sorts consisted of half a pound of bread, a little macaroni soup, and a little tinned meat was issued daily.  This resulted in men experiencing the ‘blackouts’ through lack of nourishment but enough to stay alive – just.  Water had to be brought to the compound in barrels: fresh water for drinking but only sea water for washing.  Proper sanitary arrangements were non-existent and dysentery cases were not uncommon. 

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Italy

In mid-December, Pte. Jack McLean and fellow prisoners were crammed into the holds of Axis cargo or passenger vessels for the voyage to Tripoli and then a 36-hour voyage across the Mediterranean to Naples.  The men had to sleep on the bare iron deck, ‘head to tail’ and alongside each other like sardines in a tin.  In each corner of the hold were large buckets for use as toilets. During the daytime a certain amount of fresh air entered the hold but at night the hatch was closed and secured by tarpaulin sheets.  There was no artificial lighting available and those that needed to use the buckets at night very rarely found their way to them and certainly not back again. Many of the prisoners were already suffering from dysentery so you can quite imagine the terrible stench in the hold. 

The danger in crossing the Mediterranean was from German submarines ‘wolfpacks’ combined with  the presence of Allied submarines, a very dangerous place by day and night.  The ship’s Italian Master’s wanted to cross the Med at speed because of the dangers from both submarine and air attack.  To highlight this danger, on 8 December 1941 a large draft of 2,100 POWs including many from Op Crusader, had left Tripoli on the Dutch cargo ship Sebastian Venier (fmly ka Jantzen; Jason), an 8000-ton cargo vessel under the control of an Italian Master and German guards that was bound for Naples.  On the following afternoon, just off Cape Methoni near Pilos on the south-west coast of the Greek Peloponnese, Sebastian Venier was struck** by a torpedo fired from HM Submarine Porpoise.  The torpedo hit the ship in one of the forward holds killing 500 or more prisoners packed into the hold including 45 New Zealanders.  Hatch-boards covering the holds that had men lying on them also fell in killing others as they crashed below.  The ship was semi-steerable however after the Italian master abandoned the ship as lifeboats were lowered to evacuate POWs, and a storm began to build as night fell.  A German naval officer onboard took control of the ship and succeeded eventually in grounding the ship on rocks at Methoni Point thereby saving many of the 1500+ POW survivors.  

Note: ** POW ships were unmarked and the Allied ULTRA security measures applied to prevent the enemy learning of plans (incl shipping movements) sometimes meant an Allied sub commander might not receive timely advice of the movements of ‘friendly’ shipping.  The Master of the ‘Sebastian Venier’ desperate to make the dash across the Mediterranean together with HMS Porpoise’s lack of advice regarding the POW ship’s departure at 1600hrs, tragically resulted in ‘Sebastian Venier’ appearing to be a legitimate enemy target.

Labour camps

On arrival at Naples the POWs were temporarily housed before being moved to camps which would be transitory before being moved towards further north into Germany.  The movement of prisoners towards Austria and Germany was necessitated by their ever growing numbers and the lack of purpose built facilities in Italy.  This was a stepped process through a series of Italian transit and labour camps while additional facilities in Austria and Germany were constructed.  Officers and Other Ranks were separated and would remain in separate camps for the duration of the war.  For most men arriving in Italy, long distance travel in closed cattle-wagons was their first experience.  From June 1941 until April 1942, long trainloads of POWS travelled the length of Italy on journeys lasting from five to ten days.  An average of 35 officers in a wagon made it difficult for everyone to lie down however for those in the Other Ranks (not officers) each wagon had as many as 55 crammed into them.  Biscuits and tinned meat – the only rations – seem usually to have been issued only for a four-day journey and generally on a very lean scale.  Toilet facilities were confined to one bucket which quickly filled to overflowing.

Italy: Campo PG 52 ~ POW No. 7398 

In early February 1942, POW #7398 Pte. Jack McLean together with most of NZ’s capture Other Ranks were transported to a Labour Camp, Campo PG 52 at Fontanabuona near the city of Chivaria in northern Italy, about 14 kilometres inland from Genoa.  The conditions in Campo PG 52 were much better than at Capua as it was a large camp of about 2,000 prisoners, mostly British and South Africans. 

Accommodation was in Nissan huts, about 60 to each hut under the command of a British NCO.  Double bunk beds were an improvement compared to the transit camps, and the first Red Cross parcels arrived, one parcel between five men per week.  These contained biscuits, butter, cheese, dried milt, tea, coffee or cocoa, meat, fish, tinned paste, Oxo or Bovril, 50 cigarettes and many other things.  All empty tins were saved which were used to make stoves and what was known as ‘brew-up machines’ for hot drinks and cooking food.  The prisoners were issued with a battle dress jacket and trousers, underwear and basic toiletries which were badly needed.  Other POW facilities at the camp included educational classes, an orchestra and a concert party, the instruments being sent from England.

Campo PG 52 was a farm oriented Labour Camp where the men carried out general farm work, digging ditches and assisting where needed collecting fruit and tomatoes.  Jack spent six months at PG 52 (02 Feb 1942-14Aug 1942) until he was transferred east to Labour Camp PG 107 near Udine, 4-500 kilometers closer to Austria.

Italy: Campo PG 107

Campo PG 107 was one of a cluster of Labour Camps in north-east Italy near the city of Udine.  Apart from PG 107 the others  included 107/2 (Prati), 107/4 (San Donà di Piave), 107/5 (Torre di Confine), and 107/7 (La Salute di Livenza).  PG 107 situated five kilometers from Torviscosa, Udine interned mostly New Zealanders and South Africans.  The POWs here were engaged in general labouring and construction tasks.  Jack McLean remained in this camp for a year until 15 Aug 1943 at which time the POWs were entrained for work camps in Austria and Germany.  Jack was destined for a German POW camp, 220 kilometers from Udine across the north-east border into Austria. 

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Austria: Stalag XVIII–A                  

Pte. Jack McLean and his fellow NZ POWs were transferred in August 1943 to a POW camp at Wolfsberg, Stalag XVIIIA (18a) which was the primary POW camp in Austria.  Stalag XVIII was a hub for several smaller work camps, or Arbeitskommandos, usually abbreviated to kommando.

Arbeitskommandos were preferable to most others camps.  As well as an apparent tendency to transfer British and especially Dominion prisoners from the industrial work camps to the farm camps, the rigid policing and disciplining of prisoners in the farm camps was eased and in some cases almost lax.  Typically only soldiers and NCOs below the rank of Sergeant were sent to these camps, of which there were many thousands.  Though the hours of work in the farm camps were much longer – sometimes fifteen or sixteen as against eight to ten hours daily – they were no longer than those worked by Austrian men and women.  The work could be as strenuous as one liked to make it, and the outdoor life kept the men tanned and fit.  Sleeping quarters were often warmer and more comfortable, and there was invariably more food to eat.  Prisoners were in fact usually given the same as the civilian workers.   There was also a certain amount of freedom to move about, and the civilian farming population people were on the whole quite friendly once the initial suspicions and language barriers had been broken down.

The Germans even made little improvement in this period.  At the end of 1941 the British compound still contained only the original three converted stables, which were still too crowded to allow any space for indoor recreation.  There were too few tables and seats to accommodate all the occupants so the remainder were accommodated in tents – not a good place to be in the winter!  Stoves were fitted in time to provide winter heating; but for some time only a certain proportion of the prisoners had more than one blanket, and although a large reserve of clothing had arrived from Geneva, the Germans placed every obstacle in the way of its issue, so that everyone was short of warm underclothing and socks.  The lighting was bad enough to make reading virtually impossible.  Even the few ineffectual lamps installed were switched off at dark because there were no blackout fittings for the stable windows.  There was no interference with the issue of one Red Cross food parcel a week, but an International Red Cross visitor reported that the commandant thought the British prisoners received too many parcels and had therefore decided to cut down their rations.  The general impression recorded at this time was that British prisoners were not being treated as well as prisoners of other nationalities.

The large numbers of prisoners in the working camps attached to Stalag XVIII-A did not have so much time to think. By the time they had done their nine and a half or ten and a half hours’ work (even longer on the farms), got back to their camps and done their chores, they had little time or energy left for anything but food and sleep. There were nearly two hundred New Zealanders among the hundreds working on the large dam at Lavamünd, some fifty at Klagenfurt on building work, other parties on road-making, railway maintenance, or at sawmills, and dozens of small parties on the many farms in the Stiermark-Kärnten area within the Stalag’s control.

The POW population in Stalag XVIII-A as of Aug 1943 numbered 5,316:  3178 English, 407 Scottish, 34 Irish, 833 Australian, 814 New Zealanders (including 320 Maoris), 12 Canadians, 5 South Africans.

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In September 1943 the POWs learned that an armistice had been signed between Italy and the Allied Forces, who were then on the point of invading Italy from Sicily.  This lead to the split between Italians loyal to the Crown and those who supported the Facists led by Mussolini.  The writing appeared to be on the wall for many of their guards who became a lot less vigilant and almost semi-friendly towards their charges. 

In October, Pte. Jack McLean was allocated to Work Camp A95GW at Marien en Martzoul where the work largely involved farm labouring.  After nine months in this camp to July 1944, Jack and the NZers at Stalag XVIII-A were transferred to another sub-camp, Work Camp 1139L at Gamo which was also a farm work camp.  Here Jack remained until 3 April 1945. 

In December 1944, Stalag XVIII-A was inadvertently bombed by the US Air Force during which the British Surgery and Chapel were destroyed and 61 POWs were killed.  By the end of the month the number of POWs at Stalag XVIII-A had doubled, reaching its peak of 10,667 of which 40% were Australian and 10% New Zealanders, the remainder being British.  

References:  Wikipedia: ‘Op Crusader’; https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/; www.stalag18a.org; www.forces-war-records.co.uk

Escape!

While some of the POWS engaged their free time with various pastimes, for others there was an absorbing outlet in escape. Few made the attempt from the Stalag, but there were many attempted escapes from working camps during what was known to prisoners as the ‘spring handicap’.  It was not very difficult to get away from a working party, pick up a cache of food and civilian clothing, and make across country.  The objectives at this period were Switzerland or Hungary, or the partisan-held hill territory in Yugoslavia.  In spite of the sparseness of frontier guards at this stage of the war, there were few successes.  For those caught the punishment was usually three weeks in solitary confinement on bread and water, followed by a period at one of the ‘disciplinaire’ Arbeitskommandos, which had been created to discourage prisoners who broke the rules.  At these there was usually heavy pick-and-shovel work.

The 4th of April, 1945 was Pte. Jack McLean’s 34th birthday.  Jack decided to give himself a birthday to remember by making his only successful escape bid of his four years ‘in the bag’.  While being marched from the farm paddocks back to Camp 1139L at the end of a long day, Jack managed to slip away from the column without the guards noticing and disappeared.  He remained at large until 14 April when he was unexpectedly surprised by civilian police, apprehended and and returned to the work camp.  The birthday present to himself netted him and added bonus of three weeks in solitary confinement on bread and water only. 

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Home Sweet Home

On April Fools Day, 1945 the Allies began their offensive in northern Italy.  After Mussolini was executed on the 28 April, 
the 2nd NZ Division pushed north towards what would be its last battle on Italian soil.  The NZ Div. successfully took the city of Trieste on 2 May after which the Germans in Italy surrendered.  Word travelled fast and soon the occupants of the two work camps in Austria that contained NZers made their way down towards port city of Trieste, a mere 130 kilometres south of Udine. 

On arrival at the New Zealanders base depot the POWs were issued with Army uniforms and given their first English breakfast in several years.  After an extended period of celebration with as much merriment, eating and drinking as the weakened POWs could handle, gradually they absorbed the feeling of freedom, attending to their wounds and sickness, and taking much needed time to recover from their extend ordeal.  Being able to relax and enjoy the sights of Trieste was a bonus while awaiting the availability of troopships to take them back to Egypt.  

Having had their ills and injuries attended to and their strength rebuilt with good food (and plenty of the local liquid ‘pick me-up’), a debrief of the POWs time spent in captivity was conducted during which the men had to complete a post-captivity questionnaire for intelligence purposes.  Being a man of few words, Jack McLean’s responses were predictably brief:

The troops were eventually ferried back to England and following a period of recovery and local leave, were returned to New Zealand.

Medals: 1939/45 Star, Africa Star w/ “8th ARMY” clasp, Italy Star, War Medal 1939/45, NZ War Service Medal (1939/45)

Service Overseas: 4 years  169 days

Total 2NZEF Service: 5 years  21 days

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After the war ….

Jack McLean returned to New Zealand and the family farm at Gladfield to his parents and sister, Mona.  Jack kept a low profile busing himself with his work.  When Jack’s father died in 1947, his mother Magdalene and Mona carried on farming.  Magdalene McLean died in 1951 and was buried with her husband at Riverton.  Mona and Jack remained on the farm, Mona being his housekeeper.  Around 1963 Jack sold the farm and he and Mona moved to 441 Herbert Street, Invercargill from where he continued to undertake more localised farm work.  Around 1973, Jack decided it was time to retire and to seek a warmer climate.  He said farewell to Mona and moved north to Richmond in Nelson.  Home for the first decade or so of his retirement was 68 Bateup Road until old age caught up with him and he re-located around 1985 closer to the centre of town to a pensioner flat at 4/145 Upper Queen Street, Richmond. Here Jack lived out his days. 

John Lind McLean died on 4 May 1997 at the age of 86 and was buried in the RSA Section of the Wakapuaka Cemetery in Nelson.  Jack’s sister Mona Magdalene McLean who remained unmarried, died in Invercargill on Armistice Day 2002 at the age of 89.  Mona was buried in the family’s original home town of Riverton.  On her parents grave at Invercargill, both sister and brother are remembered together.

Limited options

With neither Jack nor Mona having married or having children, my search for a descendant to become the custodian of Jack’s medals presented me with limited options.  Having found Jack’s parents grave and that of Mona in the Riverton Cemetery, I was able to work backwards to locate the last of the McLean siblings of J.B. McLean Snr. to have been working the Brakenridge farm.  Given the farm had been in McLean hands continuously since the late 1800s, it was quite on the cards there would still be McLean descendants of J. B. McLean’s other sons and daughters in the general area.  I didn’t have to go far from the Brackenridge Farm at Thornbury to find a nephew of Jack McLean. 

John Brown McLEAN (Jnr) was the seventh child of J. B. McLean Snr. and the brother of Jack McLean’s father James McLean.  John Brown had spent his life on Brackenridge working with his father until he died at Thornbury in 1947.  Married to Florence Mary CASSELLS (1877-1967) of Riverton, the couple had two children – Colin Charles McLEAN (1912-1980) and Clarice Cassells McLEAN (1910-1994) were also born at Riverton.  While Clarice remained a spinster all her life, Colin married Isobel Henrietta COWAN (1915-1958) of Invercargill and together they had two sons, John Brian McLEAN and Colin Murray McLEAN both of who carried on the McLean sheep farming legacy in Thornbury.  Locating at least one of these gentlemen was not difficult. 

The McLeans and Thornbury have a long family history together and as they say ‘apples don’t fall far to from the tree’.  The Otautau Electoral Rolls pointed me directly to Colin McLean (known as Murray) whose address was, hard to believe I know: 143 Limestone Plains Road, Thornbury, R.D. 3, Otautau.  I think I could have just about solved this case in my sleep by recalling just two words – “McLean” and “Thornbury” as both have been synonymous with each other for decades.  Making contact with Murray via the Facebook page of his daughter who just happens to live almost opposite, was an easy win.  Murray McLean, still a man of the land in Thornbury and likely to be so till the day he dies, is now the proud owner of his uncle John Lind McLean’s forgotten war medals and Jack’s wartime history to go with them.

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Thanks to the Nelson RSA, Jack McLean’s medals are now back in Thornbury in the hands of his descendant family where they rightfully belong.

The reunited medal tally is now 509.

Joelene W. (nee Gibson) contacted MRNZ to register the lost medals of a family member, her great-grand uncle, Trooper Noel Pairman Gibson who had been killed at Gallipoli.  Of the people who register missing medals with us the return rate is not high.  Only a handful of those listed are reunited each year with descendants, however it must be said that if your family’s missing medals are not listed, then you have missed an opportunity to advertise not only New Zealand wide but also world-wide what it is you are looking for for.  Five months after registering Noel Gibson’s missing medals, I was perusing the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Cenotaph website and had cause to open Noel’s file.  On the profile page I found the following message posted:

Cenotaph Message

I currently have Noel Pairman Gibson’s British War Medal (1914-1920) in my possession, if there is anyone related to Noel Pairman Gibson I would be willing to give them the medal.

Public – James – Researcher

After gathering some details from James, I contacted Joelene about the message.  Not expecting such a quick response to her request, a very surprised Joelene followed James’s offer up and in due course, true to his word, James sent her the medal.  The medal (minus ribbon) had been found by James in very poor shape, slightly corroded and rusty as it had been buried for a long period of time.  However the resilience of the metal which has a high component of silver was salvageable and so Joelene had a jeweller attend to it with impressive results considering its start point.  The medal truly reflected what Noel Gibson must have faced on the slopes of Gallipoli on the day he was killed! 

13/341 Tpr. Noel Pairman GIBSON

Noel Gibson was born at Te Awamutu on 8 August 1893, a month that would attract major significant in his war service.  At the time of Noel’s birth, his parents – Matakana born Marion Jean, nee Wallace (1864-1921) and father Frank Robinson Gibson Snr. (1858-1950), ran the Post Office in the Waikato settlement of Wharepuhunga near Kihikihi, about 40 kilometers west of Tokoroa. 

Noel was one of seven children, the eldest being Albert John Blair GIBSON (1883-1929), then Frank Robinson Gibson Jnr. 1885-1942, George Wallace GIBSON (1886-1916), Hannah Myrtle [Gibson] BRADLEY (1887-1970), Noel Pairman Gibson, Frederick Hugh GIBSON (1895-1970) and Florence Beatrice [Gibson] TIBBY (1898-1988). 

Prior to the World War 1, Noel Gibson had been employed as a “Chainman” at the Auckland Surveyor’s Office of Brian D. Willis.  A Chainman was responsible for the routine manual activities involved in land surveying including assisting the survey crew with such things as clearing lines of sight, holding the level rod or distance meter reflector at designated points to assist in determining elevation and laying out stakes (chaining – measuring distances in chains) for map making, construction, land and other surveys; calling out readings or writing station number and reading, in the survey log book. 

Additional to his employment, Noel was a serving Territorial Trooper with ‘C’ Squadron of the Waikato Mounted Rifles, one of three Territorial mounted rifles regiments from the Auckland Military District that comprised the Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment (AMR), a unit of the NZ Mounted Rifles Brigade.  

Training for war

Noel Gibson was one of four Gibson brothers who voluntarily enlisted for service overseas in the First World War, however sadly only two would return.  Noel was 21 years old when he was attested at Hamilton on 15 August 1914 to serve for the duration of the war.  The AMR was assembled and brought up to full strength at Epsom Camp, Auckland.  Men who had been guilty of serious offences were immediately struck off the roll and replaced by others selected from the hundreds of eager volunteers.  Not surprisingly, Commanding Officer Lt-Col. Charles Mackesy’s insistence on a strict level of discipline meant he demanded high standards and which he maintained within the AMR. 

Noel Gibson embarked for Suez, Egypt with the 4th Squadron, AMR as part of the NZEF’s Main Body on 16 October 1914.  On arriving in Egypt in October, the NZEF’s Base Camp at Zeitoun, about 9 kilometers north of Cairo needed to be established after which training commenced in mounted desert operations in anticipation of operations in Egypt, the Sinai and Palestine.

On April 8th, Noel sent a postcard to his mother:

My Dear Mother, 

There is nothing startling to write about this week, so I am still on the P.C. Act.  These are all the 4th officers from left to right Mjr Tattersall, Mjr Chapman, Lieut. Abbot and Lieut. Milliken.  I did not receive a letter from you last mail but hope there will be one tomorrow.  It is very windy today and consequently very dusty.

All the boys are well and wish to be remembered to you.  Will write a letter next week. 

Trusting you are all well.  I remain your loving son,   Noel                

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Gallipoli

When the Ottomans entered the war, immediate emphasis for New Zealand was the Gallipoli Peninsula for which there would be no requirement, nor opportunity, for mounted operations due to the nature of the terrain.  The Australian and New Zealand Division landings at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 was a confused affair that hat begun badly when the initial landings by the Australians occurred on the wrong beach.  Anzac Cove was not the intended landing place as it was very small, narrow and the hinterland rose sharply via a series of steep ridges and deep gullies that peaked at an extended ridgeline where the Ottomans were well dug in. Nevertheless the ANZAC’s as they became known, committed themselves to the fray with the landing of Australian and New Zealand units continuing to land throughout the day.  The tempo of the maelstrom of shot and shell  from the Ottomans – artillery, machine-gun and rifle fire was constant and hammered away at the ANZACs even before the reached the beach, one that was quickly littered with the dead and wounded. 

As they struggled to gain footholds in the uphill terrain, progress was slow for the majority who found it to be a slow, uphill grind against a well entrenched enemy on the  high ground.  This was a place that would at no time favour the invader.  The casualty count among the ANZACs in the first few weeks was horrendously high however hang on they did with grim determination for only meagre to fill the ever increasing gaps in the front line.  Within weeks it was apparent that many more reinforcements would be needed than had been anticipated.  After political pressure was bought to bear on the NZ government at home by Maori politicians, the Maori Contingent at Malta was finally authourised to join the battle on 3 July.  This at a time when plans were also under way to withdraw some of the NZers to Cape Helles in the south to support a diversionary attack on Krithia by British and French forces.  

Trooper Gibson was one of 1500 NZ Mounted Rifles soldiers who had remained in Egypt, but were now also required to bolster the flagging ANZAC Division’s numbers on Gallipoli.  The ANZAC’s were only just maintaining a tenuous hold of their defensive positions when the 1500 NZMR men who embarked troopships at Alexandria on 9 May 1915, and were rushed to Gallipoli, landing on the Peninsula three days later on the 12th.  At the same time 1400 Australia Light Horsemen also arrived to replace Australian losses.

Chunuk Bair – Happy Birthday Noel!

The Wellington Regiment together with the 7th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment; and 8th (Service) Battalion, Welch Regiment, and two squads from the Auckland Mounted Rifles (unknown if Tpr. Gibson was among these) made a most determined attempt to unseat the Ottoman’s from their hilltop vantage point on Chunuk Bair on 8 August.  The attack achieved fleeting success when the first troops reached the summit however many were decimated by the return fire.   These were relieved at 2230 hours (10:30pm) on 8 August by the Otago Battalion, and the Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment and the summit remaining in NZ hands.  Whether or not Trooper Gibson was among the men of the two AMR squads or not, irrespective of wherever he was on the Gallipoli Peninsula, his 22nd birthday which fell on the 8th of August would be one birthday he was unlikely ever to forget … if he survived! 

The New Zealand troops were relieved by 2000 hours (8:00pm) on 9 August by the 6th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment and 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment who were massacred and driven off the summit in the early morning of 10 August, by an Ottoman counter-attack.  The prized Chunuk Bair was won and lost several times over the ensuing days until timely Ottoman reinforcements overwhelmed their attackers and forced them from the feature.  The cost to the Wellington Regiment alone was substantial, including its much admired Commanding Officer, Lt-Col. William Malone. 

The total strength of the AMR, including those who were sick, was just 66.  Only 22 of the 288 officers and men who began the advance remained; the rest had been killed, wounded, fallen ill, or were missing.  Since 6 August, the AMR had lost 57 men killed, 144 wounded and 27 missing in action.  Trooper Gibson had so far survived.

Hill 60

Two further ill-planned attacks unfortunately were on the drawing board.  Hill 60 was a well defended Ottoman position which presented a major obstacle to reaching the main force of Ottomans dug in on the summit and forward slopes of the Sari Bair ridgeline.  Enemy machine-gun posts on Hill 60 had clear lines of fire from their positions and the distinct advantage of enfilade.  This together with substantial artillery support made the task of the attackers a very difficult prospect.  On 21 August the troops assembled and waited in the shade of a hot, sunny afternoon for the supporting attacks to begin.  The artillery bombardment did little more than alert the enemy that they were about to be attacked.  At 3.30pm in the afternoon, the waiting troops sprang up from their covered positions and began running forward across the 700 meters of flat, open ground towards Hill 60.  Over half of attackers were scythed down by machinegun and artillery fire within the first 15 minutes.  Trooper Gibson was not one of the fallen.

A second attack on Hill 60 was ordered a week later for the 27th of August in an effort to expand the foothold gained, in an attack on the 21st.   A force of 1300 men (NZ, Aust and British) were assembled for this attack.  The entire New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (including 300 AMR troopers) and the Otago Infantry Regiment were to be committed.  AMR troopers were to be in the first wave of the attack.  At 1600 hours (4.00pm) the ANZAC artillery’s ‘softening up’ of the enemy before the attack, as before did not have the desired effect.  At 1700 hours (5.00pm) the NZMR and Otago Regiment moved from their cover towards the Ottoman trenches on the approach to Hill 60.  As soon as they moved enemy machine-gun fire and shards or shrapnel from bursting artillery rounds, came from all directions killing and wounding the men.   

The first line of Canterbury and Auckland mounted riflemen got into the first trench and laid into the Ottomans with bayonets, bombs (hand grenades) and rifle butts; the trenches were soon heaped with dead and dying Ottomans (and NZers).  The second line of men from the Wellington and Otago Regiments leapt over their heads to attack the second trench line.  Enemy resistance stiffened as Ottoman reinforcements poured down the communications trenches from as yet untouched depth positions.  Within a day the 119 officers and men of the Canterbury regiment were reduced to 18 survivors.  The fighting continued into the night until dawn, the NZMR defending the captured Ottoman trenches against counter-attacks throughout the 28th and consolidating their position.   This would be the last engagement by the New Zealanders on Gallipoli. 

The AMR suffered heavy casualties on Hill 60: one officer and 37 other ranks were killed, four officers and 61 other ranks wounded.  When the AMR began accounting for its men after the battle, Trooper Gibson was among the missing.  The intensity of enemy artillery fire over the two days of the battle had wreaked havoc on the attacking force.  As was normal after a period of action, once all those soldiers who had been reported as ‘missing’ were confirmed to be ‘missing’, a Board of Enquiry was convened to ascertain their actual fate.  The Board convened at the Sarpi Camp, Lemnos on the 30 Nov 1915.  The Board concluded in the case of Trooper Noel Gibson whose body was never found, “it was reasonable to suppose he was dead at the Dardenelles on 28 August 1915”.   Tpr. Noel Pairman Gibson is remembered at Gallipoli on the Hill 60 (New Zealand) Memorial, Hill 60 Cemetery, Turkey.    

Medals:  1914/15 Star, British War Medal 1914-1918, Victory Medal + Memorial Plaque & Memorial Scroll.  NOK entitled to Anzac (Gallipoli) Medallion.   

NZEF Service Overseas:  0 years  317 days

Total NZEF Service:  1 year 13 days                 

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Notes:  The Brothers GIBSON 

Frank Robinson Gibson Jnr. was the only Gibson brother not to go to war.  His father Frank Snr. was rapidly approaching sixty years of age when the war started and until then, had depended on his sons to help running the family’s two dairy farms  at Wharepuhunga and Matamata.  With all but one son leaving to serve overseas, the voluntary enlistment of four Gibson sons enabled Frank Jnr. to apply and be granted an exemption from service by the Military Service Board so he could run the farms.

• 13/2320 Trooper George Wallace Gibson (1886-1916), a Farmer, born at Te Awamutu in Jun 1886. George enlisted with the Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) on 21 Aug 1915.  He embarked for Egypt with A Squadron, AMR on the HMNZT Aparima with the 7th Reinforcements on 9 Oct 1915.  George was with the mounted units assigned to assist with the protection of the Suez Canal.  He was Killed in Action in the Suez Canal Zone on 9 August 1916, age 27 and was buried on the battlefield.  Service Overseas: 305 days; Total NZEF: 354 days.  Trooper Wallace Gibson is remembered on the Kantara Memorial, Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt. 
• 13/341 Trooper Noel Pairman Gibson (1893-1915)

• 34356 Private Frederick Hugh Gibson (1895-1970), a Farmer, born at Te Awamutu in Oct 1895.  He had also joined the 4th Waikato Mounted Rifles as a Territorial soldier, two months short of his 21^st birthday when he enlisted on 21 August 1916.  He sailed with the 20th Reinforcements for England on 28 May 1917.  In May 1918, Fred was transferred to E Company of the NZ Cyclist Corps which was attached to the 22nd Corps of Cyclists Battalion.  Eight weeks later Fred was Wounded in Action and following treatment was returned to his unit in the field and saw out the remainder of the war without further injury.  Fred Gibson returned to NZ in May 1919 and was discharged from the NZEF on 5 August 1919.  Service Overseas: 2 years 188 days; Total NZEF: 2 years 350 days                            

• 31987 Rifleman Albert John Blair Gibson (1883 –1929), a Stockman for the Farmers Freezing Company, Horotiu, born at Te Awamutu in Nov 1883. Albert enlisted on 25 July 1916 with the 1st Wellington Company, Wellington Mounted Rifles, later transferring to the 1st Battalion, Wellington Infantry Regiment, NZ Rifle Brigade.  Albert travelled to Egypt and England with the 13 Reinforcements on HMNZT 68 Maunganui on 15 Nov 1916.  Hospitalised on the ship with Enteritis, Albert was wound in the left hip on the third day of the opening Battle of the Somme in June 1916.  Returned to England for treatment, Albert went back to France to join his unit, only to be gassed and evacuated again to England.  Albert survived and returned to NZ on 27 June 1919, the date on which he was discharged from the NZEF.  Service Overseas: 2 years 197 days;  Total NZEF: 2 years 338 days

Albert Gibson may not have died at war but war still killed him not too long after. After he returned to NZ he worked on his brother’s farm in Matamata for a short while, then left for Australia. He suffered from PTSD which in those days was no such thing.  You were just labelled mad/insane. He also suffered from diseases he picked up as did many other soldiers living in the filthy trenches. When he arrived in Australia he travelled around Queensland working on farms, fixing fences etc.   In 1925 Albert was living at the Criterion Hotel in Richmond (far north) and listed as a Labourer. 

At some point Albert was admitted to the Goodna Asylum (later Wolston Park) for the criminally insane which had been in operation since the 1880s. This is where it appears Albert spent his final days.  As was the practice at Goodna, asylum inmates who died were buried in a shallow, unmarked grave near the hospital.  Latter day researchers have determined that Albert’s grave and many others have since then been built over.  It is unknown if any bodies were moved beforehand.  The Asylum also garnered for itself a dreadful reputation while in existence being the subject of many inquiries over torture and other treatment.  It is believed Albert Gibson passed away at the Goodna Asylum in 1929, at the age of 46.

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A mother’s love …

Marion Gibson like many other mothers who were close to their sons, lamented the loss of Noel and George for the rest of her life.  Noted for her ability to write poetry, she found some solace in writing for her ‘boys’:

Forget, ah no, some may forget
The love that once they gave
But mother’s love still follows her sons
Far, far, beyond the grave.

Marion was in her late fifty’s when she wrote the following the following verse just before she died (of a broken heart) in October 1921.

Greater love hath no man

 They went with the hope of returning

Along with their comrades as brave

With many other heroes they died

Along with their comrades as brave.

With many other heroes they died

That others might be saved,

God in his wisdom called them

My cross I must always bear.

And I wait for the end that is coming 

The end, yes the end – of all care.

                       For Noel and George from Mother, 1921.

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Gallipoli memento

In the course of looking through Noel Gibson’s military file I had also noted that the Anzac (Gallipoli) Commemorative Medallion Noel Gibson’s next of kin was entitled to had never been claimed.  This is medallion was a joint Australian and New Zealand initiative to acknowledge the surviving Gallipoli veterans in 1967 during an acknowledgement of the 50th anniversary of the Gallipoli Landings on 25 April 1915.  Availability of the medallion was extended to the widows and next of kin of Gallipoli veterans who had died prior to the medallion’s production in 1967.

Joelene’s father was a direct descendant of Noel Gibson’s (in terms of descendant seniority) and therefore entitled to claim the medallion.  I sent Joelene an application and the criteria for her father to make the claim.  Several months later Joelene received an officially issued Gallipoli Medallion from the NZDF Personnel Archives and Medals office.

Only one more to find

In December, Jolene contacted me to say that she had located another of Noel’s medals.  The 1914/15 Star named to Noel apparently had been in the possession of another relative all along, but as is normally the case, it was not widely known among family members.

That leaves only Tpr. Noel Pairman’s Victory Medal and Memorial ‘Death’ Plaque yet to be found.  Please contact MRNZ if you have theses medals or know where they are.

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My thanks to Joelene who very kindly allowed us to feature the Gibson family’s photographs; and to James C. who unknowingly began this story with his post on Cenotaph and generous offer to return Noel Gibson’s medal.  Thanks also to the staff at NZDF Personnel Archives & Medals for processing Joelene’s request for the medallion so promptly.

The reunited medal tally is now 508.