Lost war medals returned home for Remembrance Day
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A set of miniature war medals, found at Brisbane Airport, have been reunited with their owner just in time for Remembrance Day.
Vietnam veteran Malcolm Edmiston lost the medals while travelling from Townsville to Christchurch, on the eve of Remembrance Day in 2023.
He figured he’d lost them in Christchurch and returned to Townsville empty-handed.
“I thought they were lost and lost for good. I had no idea where they were. If they were anywhere, I thought they were in Christchurch, certainly not in Brisbane,” says the 83-year-old veteran who is overjoyed to have them in his hands again.
“Wow! A chance to get them back, I was really missing them.”
Two months ago, Brisbane Airport launched a nationwide campaign to find the owner of the precious items found in its International Terminal. Using publicity from the annual lost property auction for charity, the campaign focused on finding the owner, though the medals were never listed for sale.
"From the very beginning, this was about finding the owner of these precious items and it took a community-wide effort to locate Malcolm, and we’re so glad it succeeded. These medals were never listed in the auction and we knew the public would help us find their owner. We had 100 super sleuths ring up and offer to help solve this mystery,” says Brisbane Airport spokesperson Peter Doherty.
After widespread media coverage in Australia and New Zealand, people shared photos of the medals on veterans' Facebook pages, where Malcolm eventually spotted them this week, just in time for Remembrance Day, one year since he lost them.
“I found them on Facebook. It came up and said that Brisbane Airport has these medals and is looking for the owner and as soon as I saw them, I said, ‘they’re mine!’”
Malcolm phoned Brisbane Airport, and after he was authenticated as the owner, the medals were returned to his home in Townsville just in time for Remembrance Day.
“I think the timing is quite magical when you think about it,” he said
As a teenager growing up in Melbourne, Malcom sold snacks to the MCG crowd at the 1956 Olympic Games.
A year later, at age 15, he signed up for The Australian Army Apprentice Scheme.
In 1968, he was dispatched to Vietnam as a Construction Engineer with the 198 Works Section, charged with building operating theatres, barracks, offices, storerooms and workshops on Australian bases in Vietnam.
“I was there for 12 months, one week, one day and one hour. I wasn’t really counting,” he laughs.
“Most of the time it was pretty easy but every so often there were events which became very hairy and very scary.”
He returned home in 1969 in time to see Neil Armstrong walk on the moon, and witness many of the National Servicemen (Nashos) he served with struggle back in Australia after receiving a hostile public reception.
“Generally, for us in the regular army, we went back and we were within an army community, and we didn’t take any notice of the opinions of outsiders, so that was basically the way one survived, and then PTSD eventually got us all, and usually that wasn’t until much later.
“Whereas Nashos came back and immediately got out, that’s when a lot of them were hit with PTSD straight away. Most of the regulars were fine until they got out.
“For me I got out and was then in the Army Reserve. When that ceased, all of a sudden, the whole world fell in on top of me,” he recalls through tears.
“Which is why the medals mean so much, so it’s really great to get them back.”
Malcolm’s medals also include recognition for his service assisting with the clean-up after Cyclone Yasi in 2011, and the Townsville floods in 2019, as well as the Defence Long Service Medal.
“That was for 18 years good conduct, or as many would say, 18 years of undetected crime,” he chuckles.
The 83-year-old will take part in Remembrance Day commemorations in the Garrison City on Monday at the Thuringowa Memorial.
Images can be downloaded here Broadcast video can be downloaded here For more information contact Brisbane Airport’s 24/7 media hotline: 0466 322 485
