Four medals, one dog tag, a poppy and a black and white photo sit together on a display board on Bill Rayners lap.
They are treasured historic keepsakes that are finally in the proper hands.
“It really helps remember him and remember who he was,” Rayner said.
Rayner, a Winnipegger, cherishes these items. The medals and dog tag belonged to his late Uncle Mel, who served in the Second World War.
It comes a week after Global News ran a story on a Saskatchewan-based military historian, who was looking to reunite these misplaced medals with a Winnipeg family.
“It was sure a surprise when I was watching TV and the first thing I saw was Ledingham and thought, gee, that could be my uncle,” Rayner said.
Rayner is the oldest surviving relative of his uncle. He wasted no time after hearing his name on TV and immediately contacted the historian, John Brady McDonald.
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McDonald put the medals in the mail that day and they arrived in Winnipeg on Wednesday.
“To be able to return that hero to their families is something very special,” McDonald said.
This is the 16th set of military medals McDonald has returned to a family. He doesn’t charge anything for his efforts.
“It’s another mission accomplished,” McDonald said.
As for families like Rayners, receiving these medals brings back a flood of old memories.
“I can just remember him as I saw him when I was a kid,” Rayner said. “He had a moustache. He was a little on the heavy side. And I remember he and his wife, Edith, were very generous to us as kids.”
Rayner is anxious to learn more about the four medals, and what each of them represent. He plans to update the display case by including photos and details about his Uncle Mel.
“Wherever the medals go, some information about Mel will go with them,” Rayner said.
Then, he plans to pass them along to his family.
“They’ll go to my daughter who’s anxious to have them and we think after that, it will go to her son, Jesse, who doesn’t know about them yet, but when he hears about them, he will be very excited,” Rayner said with a smile.
He wants to ensure these beloved lost medals never leave the family’s hands again.
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