War memorabilia united with family after nearly 70 years

Last July, builders were renovating the mantelpiece of a Canberra home where Andrew McNeill resided after the Second World War when something caught their eye.

“It's just a compressed piece of carboard,” Toni said.

“It didn’t make any noise, so it was quite amazing it caught the builder’s eye.”

The tag read A McNeill NX52255, which took the builder by surprise as his last name was also McNeil.

Wanting to know more the builder took the tag to The Australia War Memorial where researchers began tracing the identity of the memorabilia.

The tag belonged to Andrew McNeill, who arrived in Shepparton from Scotland in 1910 aged six with his parents and six brothers and sisters.

However, after losing his father, Andrew needed to support his mother and left Shepparton to find work building the original parliament house in Canberra.

In 1939, Andrew enlisted in World War II leaving behind his wife Ethel and two young sons Owen and Douglas.

Andrew served with 2/20 Battalion where he saw active fighting in Malaya and received shrapnel wounds to his upper and lower right leg and was transferred to 22 HQ Brigade.

He was than captured as a prisoner of war in Singapore in 1942, but miraculously survived and was able to return to Australia.

On his return, the mental and physical effects of war stayed with Andrew until he died in 1967.

Andrew spoke very little to his family about his time at war, which left his now 61-year-old granddaughter curious of his heroic life.

“I remember him as a kind and quiet man,” Toni said.

“Given that he lived through horrors that we could not even begin to imagine, and came out the other end as such a good man, I think is the mark of extraordinary character,” she said.

Toni was unaware of the builders’ find and it was just by chance she jumped onto Ancestry.com earlier this year and discovered a family tree like hers.

“I saw someone had done a family tree similar to mine and it had a lot of knowledge,” Toni said.

“So, I contacted the lady who created it and she had seen an article about the builders finding the dog tag and wanted to find the owner's family herself.”

And that’s how after nearly 70 years Toni was united with her grandfather’s dog tag.

“The whole journey is quite unbelievable,” she said.

“It wasn’t just one coincidence it was a series of coincidences.

“It must of slipped down the mantelpiece without anyone ever realising.

“The family moved from that house to another one in Canberra a few years after he returned.”

Toni said finding the tag was extremely special as he died when she was just nine years old leaving her knowing little about her grandfather’s time at war.

“He might of said something to my older brother but he has passed away, too, so we can’t ask him either,” Toni said.

“His medals were also divided between different family members because at the time they weren’t valued like they are now.”

The family is planning on creating a display with the dog tag along with a collection of photos of Andrew.