When World War I veteran Tom Jewell marched down Melbourne’s Swanston St in the 1958 Anzac Day parade it was a day of pride, but also of loss in more ways than one.
As Tom marched alongside his comrades, his precious 1914-15 Star Medal, awarded for his service at Gallipoli and the Western Front, slipped from his suit to fall on the street where it was lost under the boots of hundreds of fellow marchers.
Now 63 years later, thanks to the painstaking research of a returned soldier and a keen amateur historian, Tom’s medal has been returned to his family including his son — Shepparton’s Donald Jewell.
“It’s just one of those things you don’t expect to happen — we’d really forgotten all about it,” Mr Jewell said.
He said Vietnam War veteran Jeff Welsh from Eltham found Tom Jewell’s medal among his own grandfather’s World War I memorabilia.
The medal was engraved on the back with Tom’s birth initials WHT Jewell — William Henry Thomas — together with the 23rd Battalion in which he originally enlisted, whereas Tom actually fought with the 22nd.
“That’s where the confusion probably began,” Mr Jewell said.
“The medal must have been returned to the secretary of the 23rd Battalion, and Dad was always called Tom,’’ he said.
He was full of praise for the detective work of Mr Welsh and his historian friend Ray Jelley who tracked down Tom’s war records online.
“They have done a hell of a job tracking down Tom’s war record and his family history,” Mr Jewell said.
Mr Jelley is a current member of the 22nd Battalion Association.
He said the two sleuths eventually found Tom’s 60-year-old grandson Steven Sole from Mernda in the City of Whittlesea, by going through all the Soles in the local phone book.
“When they contacted Steven, he was over the moon,” he said.
Three weeks ago Mr Sole brought the medal to Shepparton for Mr Jewell to have a look at.
“It’s just amazing — we’re so lucky to have this back in the family and we’re really thankful for all the hard work by Jeff and Ray,” he said.
He returned his father’s medal to Mr Sole for safekeeping.
Mr Jewell said his father Tom was wounded three times during heavy action in France.
“He got knocked about pretty bad. He carried shrapnel from a pineapple bomb all his life,” he said.
“For the last three months of the war he was taken prisoner in France. They didn’t know where he was,” he said.
Tom eventually returned to Victoria in 1919 and farmed at Quambatook, and later at South Morang.
Mr Jewell said although his father was given a replacement medal, it wasn’t the same.
“He was pretty disappointed. His replacement medal never had his name on the back,” he said.
He said the story of the medal’s return generated a lot of media attention with an article in The Age and a segment on ABC radio’s drive-time show.
“It’s been a real talking point. It’s just a great story — to have this medal returned to us after so many years. It was something he always treasured,” Mr Jewell said.