~ ORCHARD – BEHAN – GRAINGER ~
A text message accompanied by a photograph of a newspaper article that appeared in the Opotiki News on 25 February, was sent to me by ‘Colonel Tom’, a retired infantry officer and military historian, and a supporter of Medals Reunited New Zealand. Many of you know Col. (Ret’d) Tom O’Reilly. Tom had seen the article and flicked it on to me to see if I could help the Whakatane Police whose patch the medal find occurred in. The investigation of this case took me on a fascinating (virtual) journey back to the NZ army camps at Papakura, Waiouru and across the ‘ditch’ to Sydney, and the RAAF base at Richmond.
The full story will be posted here shortly …
The WHAKATANE BEACON article published on ……. by Hazel Osborne ….. can be read here:
https://thebeacon.co.nz/2020/03/war-medals-on-course-for-repatriation/