A Second World War veteran from Altona has been reunited with his service medals.
Recently, the nephew of Private John Henry Driedger donated a cigar box filled with his uncle's honours, earned during the war, along with the Silver Cross presented to Driedger's mother following his death in action in Italy in 1943. He was awarded the 1939-45 Star, the Italy Star, the Volunteer Service medal and the Victory medal. There was also a set of dog tags and a series of photographs.
"He (Driedger) has always been on our cenotaph," explained Perry Batchelor, a member of an ad hoc committee that's taken responsibility for the town's Memorial Wall, located in the Millenium Exhibition Centre (MEC). "His photograph was always up on the Memorial Wall and his Certificate of Service was there."
With this donation, the committee chipped in to have the medals refurbished and properly mounted.
While there's been artifacts donated to the community over the years, none as significant as this said Batchelor.
"I'm not downplaying anything that's in the Memorial Wall," he clarified. "This soldier never got his medals until his nephew brought them back to me [...] and now they are beside his picture. They are associated to Private Driedger years and years after the fact. He's been awarded his medals posthumously."
Batchelor says the committee is truly grateful to Private Driedger's nephew for not destroying those artifacts and instead, seeking out and allowing for the opportunity to do the right thing.
"There's a lot of stuff out there that families come across and really don't know the significance of it," he noted. "To me, this was like getting a Wayne Gretzky rookie card and then, to be able to associate those honours with a local solider who gave all."
When going through our own family's collections, Batchelor encourages you to reach out if you find something that could be a war artifact, particularly that of someone who died in the First or Second World Wars.
"We all chipped in to get these medals restored and I'm sure I'd be able to convince them to do the same for any other fallen solider, sailor or airman should the family have those medals and want to donate them. They would be preserved and displayed appropriately."
Scroll further to hear the full interview with Batchelor.
With files from Zack Driedger