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10:24AM Sunday 05 July, 2009

Tewantin woman finds World War Two medals

1 May 2008

If you combine the powers of the grapevine, The Northern Star (Lismore’s daily newspaper), "Back Fence" section, and the hand of God, you can find anything. That was the lesson learned by Tewantin resident Margaret Grainger after finally locating her father’s WWII medals.

The last time Mrs Grainger saw the medals was when she marched wearing them as a 10-year-old on Anzac Day, 1954.

“My dad died when I was only eight, so I didn’t know a lot about him,” she said.

“But I remember being really proud to march with his medals.”

Mrs Grainger said over the years her mother had got rid of a lot of her father’s possessions and the whereabouts of his medals became a mystery.

Following an extensive three-year search using the resources at the RSL, Legacy and the Australian War Memorial, Mrs Grainger obtained replicas of the medals last year because she didn’t think the originals would ever be found.

That was until she received a phone call on Sunday night.

The call was from a friend in Lismore who had heard about a story in "The Back Fence" looking for the next-of-kin of a veteran named C H L Stievenard. “It’s not a common name and I knew straight away that the medals were his,” she said. “I was over the moon. I was like a little kid at Christmas.”

The story had been placed in "The Back Fence" by Lismore resident John McDonough, who was given the medals earlier in the year by a friend, Ken Martin.

Mr Martin had been working on a display of medals at the 41st Battalion in Lismore, but the display never eventuated and he gave the medals to Mr McDonough and said: “I have a little task for you. Find the next-of-kin of these medals.”

The tattered box Mr McDonough was given contained five medals and two badges – all belonging to Charles Horace Leone Stievenard.

Mr McDonough, also a returned serviceman, was determined to find the next-of-kin because he knew what the medals would mean to a family.”

.“These medals are so important. They represent this man’s history of war and what he has done for his country,” he said. Mr McDonough was delighted when he finally reached Charlie’s daughter.

He was also blown away to find out he went to school with Mrs Granger’s husband at Marist Brothers in Lismore.

“It really is a small world, isn’t it?” he said.

Mrs Granger will collect the precious cargo by hand when she visits Lismore later this month

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