"Returned from Active Service" badge

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Kato here,

Thanks everyone, the brass face, coins and badge are in surprisingly good condition due to the sandy soil.
I think I hit the Jack Pot that day ! :Y: :D
Next hunt there I am definitely double checking the finds patch and searching around the trees.
Thanks Marksman, didn't think about people getting drunk and sleeping under the trees,
there are heaps of old peppercorns around the outside of the car park.
 
GH here.

Kato in school so I thought I would call the makers of the Badge that she found.

Amor Badge Co Pty Ltd
http://www.amor.com.au/contact.mibiznez

I sense they have great pride in their work and what they do.

Spoke to a very nice and polite gentleman that had so much knowledge and patience.
The ' RETURNED FROM ACTIVE SERVICE " is definitely WW2 service, the number on the back is
an individual number to the badge and records were made at the time of delivery to the individual.
BUT they were not linked to the Service Serial number of individuals. ( bugger )

Apparently the box arrived, you would reach in and get yours, and the number would be recorded against just your name.
These records were taken to Canberra.
So the problem is that a search is done in reverse, by the badge number - to the name, a LOT of names.
She needs to get the list of names and go through it until she finds the badge number attached to a name !
Using a Service persons Serial number or Name search it would be quick to find.

So we still may be able to find the owner, the gentleman at Amor did suggest a couple of alternative methods
but they will all take time and a lot of effort for Kato to achieve her goal.

Interestingly he was also very much into coin collecting and values :Y:
 
So we are getting closer -

Can anyone help more ?

This is where we have gotten in our searches, as records were hand written they are stored in 'books'
not in spread sheets with extracted data.
How do we find SA Book 2 ??

1495528692_showimage.jpg
 
That's awesome you guys,great work.Care to reveal who he is?Will be following this.
 
Bugger !
I will take a screen save and post it instead.

grubstake said:
Greenhornet_au said:
WELL :D
It is amazing, some more searching and lucky guessing search terms led us to the SA listings for the
RETURNED from ACTIVE SERVICE badges.
WE FOUND HIM !!!!

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=12339531

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/Sea...eports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=6387447&isAv=N

That second link doesn't work any more - the session you were in has timed out. :(
 
Wow.

We found his burial plot details and because we also have his last living address we intend to
visit his home and his War grave site to pay our respects.
We go thru the Bridge regularly.
Maybe we can find out if there are living descendants to pass the badge onto.
He had or came from a large family, none or few surviving him, we will do our best.

My family are all feeling quite emotional as there now seems to be a slow tide of information
coming in on us, funny how one small tangible thing can connect your feelings.
Just a lost item at a local night out dance. ;)

His discharge from the Army as a Sapper was on the same day as the Badge was given to him
18th Feb 1946.

Kato has expressed that she is having some strange emotions, she was so hoping to return
his badge to his family.
 
Thank you gentlemen, Kato initially was stoked to find the badge (Wed 26th of April about an hour before Sunset) and last night she revealed
that she actually kissed it when she realised what she had found, dirt and all out of the ground.

We have always taught our kids to have respect for others property, and when she showed me the badge it was
a little disappointing to her to be told that we needed to find the owner and how important this badge was to that person.
There was no hesitation on her behalf, she was on a mission after that.

Last night while we were eating I was trying to locate the "Book 2" of SA RAS recipients, when I found it, we let her do
the page searches, she was shaking and the hair was standing up on my arms.

I have now got more info that he may never have married, all his siblings may have passed before him and it is
quite possible there are no living blood line relatives, but we will keep on looking.

I have to call the gentleman at Amor and tell him what we have found, he was VERY keen to know if we get anywhere
and suggested we put the story to main stream media.

Yes we will set our story into print and add it to - https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/explore/people/582509

Thank you Eldorado :Y:
Ancestry.com
Gerald Bartlett's parents were Edwin Bartlett 1884-1954 and Elsie Margaretta Leibie 1889-1969. He had 4 sisters Verna Daphne 1908- and 3 listed as private and 4 brothers Edwin Dudley 1910-1989, Raymond Sylvester 1912-1992, Claude James 1913-, and another which is listed as private. Gerard is listed as having no known children. All his siblings are listed as having no known children as well.
:(

We personally know of a family, all deceased except for only 1 brother, and he is not all there.
Their father is in a War grave and I have his records, as his eldest son developed dementia and I applied to be Guardian for him as there was no one
else to do this. He really cared for Kato and she misses him.
That family has all but died out, no further kids or siblings, cousins or anything blood line.
Pretty sad.
He wanted his ashes scattered in a particular place which some people here may guess at, and although against the rules we did so, and also some at sea as he loved sailing, Kato did those tasks amid tears.
So now we will also have to be strong and get his fathers service history and family history up onto record too.
 
Well it seems that I surprised the makers of the Badge 'Amor' by the speed at which I found the owner.

He wishes for me to provide the paths that I took to get to the individual that owned the badge, because he gets many many requests.
And previously hit a brick wall, of course I will as it is just a lucky search that taught me what to do.
I explained it to him and he also provided other paths I may use to gather personal info on Mr Bartlett.

So in the end I may be helping hundreds of families or people to find out about relatives or return items, awesome !

I should put it together for the Forum also so that it could be pinned as we may have other medals and badges come out of the earth. :)
 
So Kato was doing further research and discovered there may be children to one of his sisters, that is pretty good, and she will be
researching the other siblings deeper too.

We will next have full service records of where he Served overseas, which countries, battles and skirmishes, medals, awards.

Mr Bartlett must have received his discharge papers AND received his RAS on the same day - both the 18 Feb 1946

Amor was unaware that this is the likely way the badges were passed out, it stands to reason and common sense for this to be done.
The fact that the Badges were provided in sequential order was also unknown, Michael (Amor / Christies) had only known of individuals
just pulling the badges out of a bulk box and the next soldier noting the details, therefore all in mixed order.

Our research 'dug' up Master Record Books that pointed to State Record Books, and the State records even contain updated info where badges were
lost and replaced by a new badge and its number.
Totally unknown previously it seems by NAA or Amor.

The S in his service no. means SA, the X means he served overseas, so we can access his service records via NAA and put that into the puzzle too.
Finding out about his life after service is harder, but do able, a bit of work to go yet.

Family and personal life are next on the radar.

Kato and I spent time swinging at some tennis courts in the Bridge before continuing on the road and then stopping where she found the badge,
wouldn't it be surreal if he played tennis at those courts and we found another item identifiable as his?
He may be listed on an Honour Board.

Will keep you posted. ;)
 
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