MEDAL SLEUTH LOCATES MILITARY CROSS FAMILY MEMBERS

Alfred Youdale's medals. The rare Military Cross with Two Bars is on the left.

Four years ago Russell RSA member Peter Roberts was sorting through medals donated to the club when he came across a rare Military Cross with Two Bars. Only nine were awarded worldwide in WWI.

Determined to give the medal and its original owner the respect they deserved, Mr Roberts and his wife Barbara set about finding out who it had been awarded to. That proved surprisingly difficult, not least because the name had been scratched off.

After years of research, inquiries to museums and experts and even forensic testing, the couple established the medal had been awarded to Australian Alfred Youdale for bravery in the skies of France and Belgium. He died in 1917 before he had a chance to wear it.

The couple then set about contacting all the Youdales they could find in the Sydney suburb where he was born, until they finally found a great-nephew who thought the medal was in the Imperial War Museum in London.

Even the Roberts' sleuthing abilities have not been able to solve the mystery of how the medal ended up in Russell, a town with which Alfred Youdale had no known connection.

On Monday, Armistice Day, four members of Alfred Youdale's family flew from Sydney to attend a formal unveiling of his Military Cross with Two Bars and accompanying service medals in a purpose-built display case at the Russell RSA.

An emotional Mr Roberts said there were two tragedies to Alfred Youdale's story.

''First, that Alf was killed in action on December 23, 1917. Second, he never got to wear these medals.''

To read the complete article, see: Rare medal's mystery ends (www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11157103)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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