NZ POLICE Case ~ Christchurch Central: 6/972 ~ HENRY VINCENT OWEN
A call from Constable Ryan Prestidge of the Christchurch South Police requested MRNZ’s assistance to find a descendant of a recipient of an Anzac (Gallipoli) Commemorative Medallion that had been recovered in February 2021 during a Police operation to execute a search warrant in suburban Christchurch. MRNZ has in the past successfully assisted the Christchurch Police to reunite recovered medals. The reverse of the medallion bore the simple inscription H. V. OWEN. A check of the AWMM Cenotaph website confirmed the initials matched the name of: 6/972 Sergeant Henry Vincent OWEN, and so a descendant of this Gallipoli veteran was begun.
Medallion history
The Governments of New Zealand and Australia announced in August 1966 that a medallion to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Landings at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, was to be awarded to the living veteran survivors of the campaign. In addition, living veterans would also receive a miniature version of the medallion in the form of a Lapel Badge with each individual’s service number impressed on the reverse.
Description
The Anzac Commemorative Medallion (1967), otherwise known as the Gallipoli Medallion, is Made of bronze and measuring 76mm x 50mm, the circular medallion is surmounted by the crown of St. Edward with a wreath and scroll at the base of the central design. The Obverse depicts a representation of Australian Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick, DCM and a donkey carrying a wounded soldier, an iconic image synonymous with Gallipoli and the ANZAC story. Below the main design is a wreath of gum leaves (Australian Eucalyptus) below which is a scroll bearing the word “ANZAC”. The Reverse of the medallion bears a map of Australia and New Zealand, superimposed with the Southern Cross, a reference to the Australian and New Zealand national flags and their geographical location. Beneath this is a wreath of NZ fern leaves. The blank reverse of the scroll allowed for the inclusion of the recipient’s initials and surname only.
The medallion itself was not designed to be worn but was presented in a display case lined with velvet and satin. The medallion was issued with an appropriate certificate.
Eligibility
All members of the ANZAC Division (Australian Imperial and NZ Expeditionary Forces), soldiers and nurses, who served in the Dardenelles operational area between April and December 1915 were eligible for the medallion. Members of the Mercantile Marine (later Merchant Navy) who served in the vicinity of the Gallipoli Peninsula and the islands of Lemnos or Imbros, were also eligible to apply for the medallion.
The eligibility criteria also extended to the next of kin of any Gallipoli veteran who had been killed, died of wounds or disease, or died for any reason subsequent to the Gallipoli campaign. These could claim a medallion as a memento of the service and sacrifice of their family member.
The medallion was available only upon application. It remains available to the descendants of Gallipoli veterans for whom a medallion has never been claimed. Claims on behalf of deceased veterans who survived the campaign and had died subsequently or natural causes, were not eligible to receive the Lapel Badge. Verification of whether a claim has been made (or not) for a medallion can be made by contacting MRNZ or the NZDF, Personnel Archives and Medals.
Milton-next-Gravesend to Napier
Henry Vincent Owen’s grandfather was Welsh born Surgeon Dr. William Henry OWEN. Dr. Owen’s son and Vincent’s father, Henry Wilson Cox OWEN (1856-1937) was a well known apothecary / druggist (chemist) who had practice his profession in the town of his birth, Milton-next-Gravesend, a Thames-side town opposite Fort Tilbury. Henry’s mother, Jane “Jennie” MORGAN (1863-1933) was from a well to do family from Grosvenor Row in London.
Henry and Jane Owen were married at St Luke’s, Chelsea on 26 May 1883 and the following year migrated to New Zealand. The Waimate departed from Gravesend, London on 07 Feb 1884 and eventually terminated at Port Chalmers on the 18th of May. The only two passengers to disembark in Auckland were Henry and Jennie Owen, the remainder of the passengers being bound for Wellington, Lyttleton and Port Chalmers. During their first 12 months in Auckland, a daughter Mary Morgan OWEN (1884-1963), the first of Henry & Jane’s eight children was born.
In 1886, a position within an established partnership of chemists, Barraud & Bowerman of Napier, became available due to the retirement of Mr Barraud. Henry Owen successfully applied for the position with Bowerman and moved his family to Napier that same year. Here the Owen family was increased firstly with the birth of John James “Jack” Owen (1885-1960) followed by Dorothy Jane [Owen] KIDSON (1888-1940), Henry Vincent Owen (18-1974), Leonard William Owen (1893-1894), Henry William Owen (1894-1894), Barnard Owen (1895-1941), and Wilfred Barry Owen (1898-1984) who was born in Wellington.
After many years in Napier, Henry Owen Snr joined the major pharmaceutical firm of Parke, Davis and Company in Sydney. During the time the Owens lived in Australia, their last child Cyril Ernest Owen (1902-1963) was born at St Kilda, Victoria. After several years in Sydney and Melbourne, Henry Owen was re-appointed Parke, Davis & Co’s New Zealand representative.
Christchurch
Henry and Jane returned to NZ and eventually settled in Riccarton, Christchurch. In 1913 Henry resigned from Park, Davis & Co and purchased Cook and Ross Ltd in Christchurch, a well known business premises that housed and number of medical doctors and chemist facilities. Henry’s son Barnard Owen who had originally apprenticed to his father as a Chemist, gained his pharmaceutical qualifications in London and then returned to work with his father at Cook & Ross Ltd.
The “Cook and Ross corner” as it was once known, occupies 110 Armagh Street with its northern aspect overlooking Victoria (then Market) Square. Today the building most locals recognize as “Isaac House.” Owned by the late Diana, the Lady Isaac of Isaac’s Construction, the building is one of the city’s best examples of the Georgian Revival style and for many years was associated with the firm of chemists Cook and Ross. The building was also occupied by the National Bank for over 50 years before the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010/11.
In 1859, on this same site a handsome new two story wooden structure had been built for Drs. Hilson and Turnbull which the overlooked Market (Victoria) Square. Designed by Thomas Tomes, the two doctors had wanted a bigger facility to replace their existing premises in Cashel Street which would not only house consultation and surgery rooms, but also a pharmacy. Two chemists that the doctors hired, John Valentine Cook and Charles Ross, appear to have left a lasting impression as this corner site of Christchurch city was referred to by all and sundry as the “Ross and Cook corner” well into the 1920’s. The premises had originally been called the “Apothecaries Hall.”
The partnership between these four gentlemen unfortunately wasn’t destined to last very long. In February 1862, a notice appeared in ‘The Press’, advising the public that the two doctors were no longer partners and that Dr. Turnbull would remain at the Apothecaries Hall. However, before the year ended, Dr. Hilson was pronounced dead while in the care of the new six month old Christchurch’s Public Hospital – of Delirium Tremens, fatal violent alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
In a shocking turn of events that no doubt Dr. Turnbull couldn’t quite believe, he was publicly accused of murdering his former colleague. The motive ? – insurance money, of course. Although many stood by the good doctor, he sold out of the Apothecaries Hall in early 1863 to one of his chemists, John Valentine Ross, and attempted to move on from the scandal. He succeeded, continuing to service Christchurch as a much-trusted doctor and during the 1870’s. He was also became Speaker for the Canterbury Provincial Council. In 1866, Charles Cook left the business as well and the Ross family, in one role or another, remained a part of the running of the building until its demolition in 1926.
After the building was demolished in 1926, Henry hired architects Helmore and Cotterill to design a new office building to replace the firm’s original 1859 premises, thought to be the city’s oldest commercial premises, on the same site. Helmore and Cotterill were business partners who had gone through Christ’s College together and then traveled around England and America studying architecture. When the pair were asked to design what would become the National Bank Building, they brought forth their love of American designs with a four-story, neo-Georgian Revival brick structure that included a mansard roof and dormer windows in the attic.
Re-building started in 1927 and once completed just like the years before, Henry leased the offices out to doctors and dentists, the pharmacy run by himself and his two son Barnard and Wilfred. The whole establishment worked in conjunction with the private Limes Hospital across Victoria Square. It was also largely due to Henry’s advocacy that the concept of an All-Night Dispensary was first established in Christchurch and later throughout NZ. Henry Owen Snr retired from active business in 1931 to live the life of a ‘gentleman farmer’ until his death in 1937 at the age of 82.
Henry Owen’s sons Barnard and Wilfred Barry Owen took over the running of the business after their father retired. Younger brother Wilfred was educated at Christchurch Boys’ High School and Nelson College. A qualified Industrial Chemist, Wilfred founded his cosmetics and toiletries manufacturing company in 1938 – Wilfrid Owen New Zealand Limited. Also a passionate monetary and banking reformist, he became the first leader of the Social Credit Political League.
In 1962, the National Bank opened their main city branch on the ground floor of Henry Owen’s building and remained until the earthquakes of 2011. Meanwhile upstairs, slowly the medical professionals that called the place home moved on and it became known more for its tenant law firms than anything. Although the National Bank remained, the building latterly was re-named ‘Isaac House’ after is owner the late Diana, the Lady Isaac of Isaac Construction, had purchased the building, making the attic her own personal apartment. This went hand in hand with her financial interests in the Isaac Theatre Royal which she wanted to be closer to. It was reported that she was in her apartment at Isaac House when the earthquake struck on 22nd February 2011.
Reference: https://www.peelingbackhistory.co.nz
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Henry Vincent OWEN
At the time Henry Vincent Owen enlisted for war service he was living at home at 45 Matai Street, Riccarton with his family. This area of Riccarton was then part of the Deans Bush/Mona Vale properties that also contained the large brick Mona Vale stables. In much later times during the late 20th century, the stables became a private home, called “The Stables”, which was remodelled and occupied by the New Zealand motorcycle design genius, the late John Brittain, and his family.
From 1908-1911, Vincent had attended Christ’s College and while at college had compulsorily been a member of the College Rifle Volunteers. When he left school in 1911, teenage boys at that time were required by law to continue their part-time military training. This he did as a member of ‘B’ Company of the 1st Canterbury Regiment. Vincent worked initially as a Clerk in the suburb of Richmond until relinquishing this become a Wool Classer in his father’s employ. When Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, all countries of the Empire were expected to contribute their fair share of the nations single men to fight. Vincent Owen was one of the many thousands of patriotic young New Zealanders who was ‘breaking his neck’ for that opportunity to go overseas with the NZEF for a chance to ‘stick it to the Hun’.
6/972 Private Henry Vincent OWEN enlisted with the 1st Canterbury Infantry Battalion (CIB) on 20 August 1914, just one month shy of his 23rd birthday. He went into camp at Trentham on 16 October 1914 as part of the Main Body of infantrymen who trained at Trentham and a variety of locations around Wellington in preparation. Within weeks the lads were ready to embark at Queen’s Wharf, Wellington where a convoy of ships was assembling to convey the Main Body to Devonport in England, via Western Australia. Preparations had included the issue of heavy wool and serge clothing to equip them for the English winter however, a sudden change of plan occurred shortly after the Australian and New Zealand convoys left Western Australia. The Ottoman Empire had entered the war as an ally of Germany’s and so at the direction of the War Office, the AIF and NZEF Divisions were re-directed to a new destination, Suez in Egypt, and where their clothing would be anything but suitable for the desert environment!
Gallipoli
A New Zealand training camp had been established at Zeitoun to accommodate and train both mounted and infantry units. The troops were drilled and rehearsed for their upcoming mission which would be to drive the Ottomans from the Gallipoli Peninsula. On 12 April 1915, the NZ Division troops re-embarked for their penultimate destination before landing at Gallipoli – the island of Lemnos, about a 120 kilometers south-west of the Gallipoli Peninsula! In Mudros Bay, a vast flotilla of battleships, supply and troop transports had assembled while the men, horses, munitions and equipment were being landed at Mudros and organised for the beginning of the assault on Gallipoli.
The first NZers to enter the ‘battle of the landing’ were the Auckland and Canterbury Battalions. Being a member of the 1st Canterbury Battalion, Pte. Vincent Owen was to become a ‘First Day Lander’ when the combined divisions of Australia and New Zealand went ashore on 25 April 1915. Remarkably, Pte. Owen survived the landing – I say remarkably because the positions of the Ottoman artillery and machine-gunners on the heights of the features surrounding the landing beaches, gave them free reign to launch a maelstrom of unimaginable terror upon the invaders as they approached from the sea, and when upon the beaches as they landed.
The Canterbury Battalion acquitted itself well despite heavy losses. Slowly a beachhead was established and the situation re-appraised. The conditions on the slopes of Anzac were appalling. The near vertical terrain hindered progress and concentrated soldiers into natural defiles that were well covered by Ottoman machinegun fire and artillery. Time and again as the troops tried to gain a foothold to scale the heights, they were beaten back from above by the sheer weight of fire unleashed upon them. The casualty rate climbed rapidly. After the first day of battle, 146 NZers were either dead or would die from their wounds. Over the eight months NZ troops would spend on Gallipoli, 2779 were killed or died and 5,212 were wounded. That’s a total of nearly 8,000, or 57% of the all New Zealanders on Gallipoli. To put it in simpler terms, that’s 12 killed and 22 wounded each day for the 240 days of the campaign.
Through all of this, Pte. Owen managed to remain physically unscathed for the first five months he had been on the Peninsula. That time however had taken its toll on him, as it did on many soldiers. On 29 September Pte. Owen was evacuated to the 3rd Australian Stationary Hospital at West Mudros suffering from Debility. Mudros on the island of Lemnos was about 120 kilometres south-west of the Gallipoli Peninsula, situated behind the island of Imbros. After five months he had become run down and in desperate need of a break, particularly as he had also just survived the August attack on Chunuk Bair. Debility was a very common condition brought about by a combination of high degrees of stress, climatic conditions, sickness, intermittent and sometimes questionable nutrition, living in conditions of privation, and the associated mental trauma associated with the sights and sounds of a war zone. All soldiers when possible were rotated off the Peninsula for a break to Mudros where there were Australian hospital facilities as well as a rest camp were soldiers could take a break from life on the Peninsula.
Pte. Owen was moved to the 3rd Australian General Hospital situated at West Mudros before being returned to England, to the Greylingwell War Hospital at Chichester, and then to Addington Park War Hospital in Croydon from March until July 1916. After a few weeks at Greytowers, the NZ Convalescent Hospital at Hornchurch, Henry was released and returned to the NZ depot at Codford Camp where he joined the 2nd Brigade’s Training Battalion on 28 August. Appointed a Temporary Corporal on 1st Dec 1916, Henry was posted to No.1 Company, 2nd Battalion of the reorganized Canterbury Infantry Regiment, ahead of his attendance at a Musketry Instructor’s training course.
School of Musketry, Hayling Island
In Dec 1916, T/Cpl. Owen attended the Southern Command School of Musketry at Hayling Island, Hampshire. Hayling Island, to the east of Portsmouth, is a small island of approx 6 by 8 kilometers. The school at Hayling was run from the island’s hotel. The course trained selected soldiers in the finer arts of marksmanship and how to teach/coach soldiers to improve the standards of marksmanship in their battalions.
From January to March 1917, Henry attended a two month senior NCO training course at the Command School, Tidsworth. Having successfully passed the course he returned to the 2nd Battalion. In April he was made a Temporary Sergeant and posted to the Training Staff Company at Sling Camp. Promotion to substantive Sergeant on 20 July meant his Instructor status changed from that of an Instructor of Musketry 2nd Class, to that of 1st Class which attracted a higher rate of pay. Sgt Owen was re-assigned to the 2nd Brigade’s Training Battalion at Sling for duties as a full-time Instructor of Musketry.
In October Sgt. Owen’s musketry instructional skills were required back in Trentham and so he left Plymouth for Wellington aboard the Ionic on 23 March 1918. On arrival at Trentham he was appointed to take charge of the training of all Musketry Instructors. Promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) in charge of the Musketry Instructional Staff at Trentham, he retained this position until the war ended in November 1918.
Sgt-Major Henry Vincent Owen was discharged from the NZEF on 11 Dec 1918 and returned to his family home at 45 Matai Street in Riccarton, Christchurch. During WW2, Vincent was re-enlisted and served as an Instructor with the Home Guard.
Medals: Volunteer/TF: NZ Long & Efficient Medal
WW1: 1914/15 Star, British War Medal 1914/18, Victory Medal + Anzac (Gallipoli ) Medallion & Lapel Badge
Service Overseas: 2 years 344 days
Volunteer/TF Service: 11 yrs 118 days
Total Service: 14 years 98 days
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Farming at Hororata
After the war Henry returned to his pre-war occupation as a Wool Classer for his father until obtaining a farm property at Hororata around 1921. This he acquired under the auspices of the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act 1915. His older brother Jack also obtained a farm on this basis. The 1915 Act had given the Government authority to purchase suitable land around New Zealand for closer settlement. The Government decreed that soldiers returning from overseas service would be given the opportunity to settle on farms of their own, on land that had specially been purchased and developed for that purpose. There would appear to have been two reasons for this decision:
- Young men serving in the armed forces lost time and experience in civilian jobs while serving their country and at the same time only receiving a set salary.
- The government could see the need for closer settlement on existing large farms (runs) and this would bring increased food production for local consumption and also export.
In July 1925, Henry married Winifred Mary “Winnie” BROOMHEAD (1894-1994), a young lady from Bakewell, Derbyshire who had emigrated from England in July 1911 with her parents Henry and Mary, her brother John and sister Constance. Winnie was involved in voluntary work caring for the Spanish Influenza victims in Christchurch, later becoming a nurse. It is very possibly she met Henry during this time, via his brother Jack who had returned to NZ very ill and was hospitalised for a considerable period.
Henry farmed at Hororata right through the Second World War years until his retirement around 1950. Henry and Winnie had two daughters both born at born at Hororata, Mary Gwyneth [Owen] FREEMAN (1925-2015) and Robin Susie OWEN (1929-2016). In approaching their retirement years, the Owen’s left Hororata for place near the sea, settling into 52 Arnold Street at Sumner. Henry’s brother Jack had also retired to Sumner and it is here that Henry and Winifred lived out their end days. Henry Vincent Owen died at Sumner on the 27 February 1974 at the age of 66 years. Winifred survived Henry by another 20 years until her death in 1994.
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Note: ** Two of Vincent Owen’s brothers also served during the First World War.
10/2266 Private John James ‘Jack’ OWEN – Wellington Infantry Battalion – 4th Reinforcements. The eldest son Jack (29) was educated at Napier Boys High and was working on a farm station in Tolaga Bay as a Fencer when he enlisted at Trentham in Feb 1915. Jack went overseas in April 1915 and was landed at Gallipoli on 28 July. Four days later on 1st August he was shot in the left shoulder and also wounded in the right eye. A bullet had struck the back sight of his rifle and a fragment of the bullet penetrated right eye, costing him the sight of the eye. Evacuated to Alexandria on 29 October, Jack was repatriated to NZ on the HMNZT Willochra and discharged “medically unfit due to wounds received in action” on 25 February 1916 after just 197 days overseas. Jack returned to the land and settled at Ardkeen in the Hawkes Bay until gaining a farm property of his own at Tuhara, Wairoa. This he had received under the returned Soldiers Settlement Act, 1915. Jack married and had two sons, Henry and Clifford, the latter a future Mayor of Wairoa. Jack Owen died in Christchurch on 7 Nov 1960, aged 74.
18024 Gunner Barnard ‘Barney’ OWEN – 12 Battery, NZ Field Artillery – 17th Reinforcements. Educated at Waitaki Boys High, at 17 years of age he had joined the Territorial ‘E’ Battery, Royal NZ Artillery whilst at school and enlisted in June 1916. Barnard (20) went overseas in Sep 1916, fought in most of the major battles in France and returned to NZ on the SS Corinthic after 2 years 213 days abroad suffering from Shellshock and Woody Tongue. When he returned to NZ he was not expected to survive the sea voyage and as a consequence was given little treatment. Survive however he did. Following a year spent in Christchurch Hospital, Barnard’s recovery was aided with the help of his father’s treatments with arsenic! He spent a second year at the soldier’s rehabilitation facility, the Queen Victoria Hospital in Hanmer Springs and recovered sufficient to be released although he never again returned to his pre-war standard of fitness. Finally discharged from the NZEF on 22 July 1919 as being “no longer fit for war service on account of illness contracted on active service”, Barnard Owen spent the following 18 months convalescing on the farms of his brothers, Jack’s at Tuhara in Wairoa and Vincent’s at Hororata in Canterbury. Barnard eventually returned to his work as a chemist, married and had a family of five. A life that was clearly shortened by the effects of the war, Barnard Owen died in Christchurch on 21 August 1941, aged 46.
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Owen descendants
The Owen family is well served by researchers and several family trees are included with extended families. I started the research with the youngest of Henry Vincent’s male siblings with the intention of working back up the siblings until I located a confirmed descendant. Alan Collett, a descendant of Cyril Ernest Owen’s wife Martha Munro COLLETT, was one of my first points of contact. Alan confirmed I had the correct family and suggested I consult Phillipa Gerard, another Owen tree author who is the daughter of Barnard Owen’s daughter (one half of twins) Gwylfa Mary [Owen] GERARD (1928-1980) who was probably the best qualified to answer my queries. While waiting for a reply to from Phillipa, I was able to continue my research thanks to some key genealogy sheets of the Owen family Alan Collett very kindly provided.
From these I was able to trace Denis Barnard Owen, a retired Machinery Draughtsman and Designer, and one time resident of McCormick’s Bay in 1981 (Ancestry’s record limit). Denis, now 87, is the son of Vincent’s late brother Barnard Owen and whom I was able to locate living in Christchurch central.
Note: ** Barnard Owen had a life-long interest in aviation and the dynamics of flight. To that end he experimented with the construction of gliders, making a name for himself in during 1930s as the designer and builder of a number of single wing and bi-plane gliders incorporating many of his own inventions. A foundation member of the Silver Wings Gliding Club in Canterbury, his aircraft were tested very successfully by a qualified pilot at Sheffield and donated to the Club for club member use.
Constable Ryan Prestige passed the information to the policing team who had been responsible for recovering the Anzac Medallion and made the necessary arrangements to have it returned personally. A recent email from Police Sgt. Regan Turner of the Christchurch South Precision Targeting Team, advised me the medallion has been returned to Denis Owen. The team had spoken at length with Denis who gave them a great insight into the involvement of all three Owen brothers in the Great War. Denis’s father Barnard and his Uncle Jack (John James) Owen had served beside each other at Gallipoli, both returning to New Zealand but severely affected by their service (see below). Denis told the team he planned to pass the medal onto Henry Vincent Owen’s grand-daughter Susan who is the daughter of Vincent’s eldest daughter, Mary Gwynth [Owen] FREEMAN (1925-2015) and her husband Neville Douglas FREEMAN (1917-2008) ** so that she could continue to cherish this piece of family history. In returning the medallion to Sue, it will be reunited with the Lapel Badge that the medallion was originally issued with plus Henry Owen’s ‘dog-tags’ (identity discs) he wore throughout his service in Gallipoli and France. His war medals are in the treasured possession of one of Henry’s grand-nephews.
Note: ** NZ 412675 / 132084 Flight Lieutenant Neville Douglas FREEMAN, DFC, mid. Born in Dunedin, a Second World War pilot with Bomber Command who joined the RNZAF in May 1941 and continued to serve with the RAF overseas until July 1947. In June 1944 he was Mentioned in Despatches (mid) for distinguished service and devotion to duty whilst a pilot with 14 (RAF) Squadron, flying both the Blenheim and Marauder aircraft on reconnaissance, torpedo and bombing sorties in the Middle East. In May 1945 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) whilst a member of 180 (RAF) Squadron flying North American B-25 Mitchell medium bombers from RAF Foulsham. He was renowned for his skilful airmanship and tenacity in pressing home his attacks in the face of enemy opposition. These attributes resulted in his Air Gunners accounting for several enemy aircraft ‘kills’ despite damage to his aircraft from ground fire and enemy aircraft fire. On each occasion his flying skill bought his aircraft and crew safely back to England.
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Job done! .. another successful outcome for the Christchurch constabulary with MRNZ’s help.
My thanks to Sue Freeman for the photographs of Henry and his memorabilia. Particular thanks to the NZ Police’s Sgt. Ryan Prestidge, Sgt. Regan Turner and the PPT of Christchurch South for their confidence in MRNZ to assist in resolving this case – glad we could be of service.
https://www.police.govt.nz/news/ten-one-magazine/anzac-medal-reunited-family
The reunited medal tally is now 416.