UK Police return soldier's lost medals to family in New Zealand   28 Nov 2014

Police in Southport have reunited war medals belonging to a local soldier with his surviving family 12,000 miles away in New Zealand.

Evidence review officer Dave Cooke managed to track down the relatives of former Marshside man William Wood after finding the medals during an audit of recovered property at Southport police station.

The medals, which include a France and Germany Star, had been taken for safe-keeping by officers attending Mr Wood's home in Coyford Drive when he passed away in non-suspicious circumstances on September 22nd, 2004. But his family did not even know the medals and other wartime treasures existed so when they came over from New Zealand to clear Mr Wood's home they returned to Wellington without them. But now Dave Cooke is working to return the medals together with photographs, letters and jewellery after officers tracked the family down to Wellington.

Dave Cooke says, "I thought it would be a long shot but I took the chance that someone might know his next of kin so emailed the local police station in Mount Victoria with my tentative enquiry, never expecting I'd get anything back. "To my amazement I got a reply the next day from a Fraser Simpson, a property clerk who turned out to know William Wood Jnr as a personal friend! We were put in touch with each other and I had the pleasure of telling him what we had found and how we'd like to get it all back to him. "The weekend before I had visited the poppies at the Tower of London with my son and had explained that each one represented the life of someone who had died in one of the wars. We had both been incredibly moved by the bravery of the soldiers and the tragic waste of life that wars bring so I knew how important these medals would be to someone out there. "Now my priority is to make sure they go in the post in time to get to New Zealand for Christmas. Sometimes you get a positive result if you put that little bit of extra effort in but the coincidences have certainly combined to help too!"

In another strange twist, Mr Wood used to live at the current home of address of Dave's mum in Southport - Fylde Road. William Junior couldn't believe it when Dave told him about it after they starting emailing each other. He said:

"My first reaction was 'Wow!', then the more I read Dave's email several times the stranger it became. Dave's email to Wellington Police went pretty much straight to a friend of mine who obviously clicked that it was probably me he was after. Then to find that Dave's mother was living at Fylde Road where my parents lived some years ago was uncanny! My brother and I just kept on wondering what other coincidences would turn up! "We are very grateful indeed to Dave and his colleagues at Merseyside Police for taking the trouble to find me and it proves that sometimes playing a long shot pays off. "I already have my grandfather's World War One medals and always intended to mount them in a frame. Now, thanks to Dave, I can do that and mark our family's total contribution and sacrifice in both World Wars."

Dave meanwhile is looking forward to playing Santa and posting the treasures via recorded delivery to ensure they cover the 12,000 mile journey in ample time for Christmas. "I'll definitely keep in touch with Will and hope to be able to see a photo of the framed medals of his dad, unvle and grandfather all together on his wall in New Zealand.

It will be a satisfying end to a really rewarding little investigation", he said.

Source ITV

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