AFTER more than 100 years, a brave Anzac soldier's missing medal washed up on Newcastle beach has found a new home.
In a million-to-one discovery, the British War Medal (BWM) from Gallipoli was accidentally found on the surf's edge amid rocks by off-duty building worker Trentan Knight 18 months ago. But initially, Newcastle beach's mystery object, from World War I, was unrecognisable.
After the chance discovery, the object was brought to historic Fort Scratchley, in Newcastle's East End. Here, its military volunteer staff scrutinised it to see if they could identify the unusual find.
"It was totally black, so it had been in water for very long time," Fort Scratchley curator Ron Barber told Weekender.
"We tried everything for ages to bring it back to a readable condition, even a soft drink known to be caustic and also citric acid."
But the story became more curious. Had the lost medal originally come from sand dumped while cleaning the pool bottom at the recently restored and re-opened Newcastle Ocean Baths?
"That's where I believe workers cleaning up also found engagement rings, coins and even jewellery," Barber said.
From a long investigation by fort staff, a link with an Aussie soldier associated with West Maitland, gradually emerged. His name was Private Thomas John Jasper, single, aged in his 20s, who died from wounds received at the legendary Battle for Lone Pine on August 8, 1915. His name is on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial.
This same WWI Gallipoli site is now etched in the nation's military history. An extraordinary seven Australians were awarded Britain's highest bravery decoration, the Victoria Cross (VC), for the fierce fighting against the enemy there between August 6 and 10, 1915.
Fort staff finally also tracked down of relatives of the late Private T.J. Jasper, of the 13th Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade of the Australian Imperial Force (or AIF). His war service was at a time when Australian colonial troops were under the British high command at Gallipoli, in Turkey in 1915.
But his relatives, Michael and Lynette Martin, of Bankstown, in Sydney, who travelled to Newcastle on Australia Day to receive the BWM were just as perplexed as to how the family medal came to be in the city's surf.
"No-one in the family can shed any light on it," Michael said. "But haven't the fort people restored the medal to an incredible condition?"
His wife, Lynette, in tracing the family tree, believes Pte Thomas Jasper was "my husband Mike's first cousin twice removed".
"But when people first tried to tell us about the existence of this war medal and the possible link to us, we thought it might be all a scam," she said.
"According to war memorial documents, Thomas Jasper's mother once lived at George Street, West Maitland, so that's possibly where he was also living just before he enlisted for war at Rosehill (in Sydney)."
Lynette also speculated that perhaps Jasper's mother much later met some relatives in Newcastle for a beach picnic and that was how the prized medal awarded to her late son was lost.
"It's a mystery, isn't it?" she said. "And even in his official war service papers there's confusion. One date has his death being at age 25 years and in another 28 years."
Fort curator Ron Barber said two factors had aided the remarkable discovery of the lost medal.
"High winds had prevented the construction worker Mr Knight from working on a tall building the day he ended up walking on Newcastle beach to find the medal," he said.
"The (black) medal was protruding from sand near the Canoe Pool and wedged up against the base of a large rock.
"Sand removed from inside the baths had been dumped beside the Canoe Pool, but this had been then quickly washed away. That may have finally exposed the medal."
"Our fort conservator Neville Dunbar was able to clean up the medal. Fellow fort members Margaret Gayler and Ian Watkins were then able to establish the service number (No.625) on the edge of the medal."
A search of the national archives showed it had been awarded to Thomas John Jasper and the find was posted on the Newcastle and Maitland Family History Facebook page.
Barber said the late soldier's family would have really been entitled to three WWI medals for his early overseas service. But what had happened to them was another puzzle.
Aussie soldiers who served overseas in WWI before 1916 were awarded the 1914-15 Star as well as the British War Medal (BWM) plus the Victory Medal. And had Jasper been married, his widow would have received a much larger medal, colloquially known among AIF troops as the "widow's penny".
Ironically, the costly 1915 Battle of Lone Pine in which Jasper lost his life was planned as a diversion to keep Turkish reserves away from the main Allied attack at Gallipoli.
Aussie soldiers charged at 5.30pm on August 16, 1915, with the sun in the Turks' eyes. The attackers took over most of the enemy front line and then the real battle began, largely underground, with bloody fighting. A stalemate developed around Lone Pine until the Australians evacuated in December 1915. About 2300 men were killed or wounded across six Australian battalions and 6000 Turks killed or wounded.
BIGHT TRAGEDY RECALLED
SPEAKING of Fort Scratchley, hopes are high for a special commemoration ceremony there early next month. Organisers plan to mark the 70th anniversary of the Stockton Bight military disaster of 1954. The date is tentatively set for March 9, to mark 70 years to the day that when three men drowned in a night amphibious Army training exercise.
It may also be the last time such a service will be held because of the age of those originally involved.
The training exercise started in calm weather from Camp Shortland (at Horseshoe Beach near Nobbys but now parkland), headed towards Port Stephens to land soldiers before a sudden squall blew up.
About 20 amphibious vehicles were involved. Eight sank in the rough sea as waves swamped the craft. About 100 of the 180 servicemen were hurled into mountainous, shark-infested seas, struggling to survive, about two nautical miles offshore.
