WWI war medals returned to Colac man in career 'highlight' for police officer

Three WWI war medals and a slouch hat badge were stolen from a home in Colac, sparking a region-wide search by police to find who they belonged to.

READ more: Police appeal for information in bid to return stolen war medals

With the help of the Colac RSL, the Australian War Memorial, the Colac Cemetery board and the Colac and District Family History Group, police were able to track down Colac's Geoff De La Rue, the grandson of the late Alfred Oats whom the medals belonged to.

They were handed back to Mr De La Rue at the Colac police station on Thursday afternoon.

"It's great to have them back," he said.

"I hadn't realised they were stolen until we went to look for them on Anzac Day and couldn't find them.

"We had just shifted house and were renovating, so I just assumed they were hiding somewhere."

Mr De La Rue, a Venturer Leader with the 3rd/4th Colac Scout Group, was away with scouts in Fiji when he received the news that the medals were in police possession and had been stolen from his home.

"It's worrying to know things had gone that I didn't even know about," he said.

He described his late grandfather Alfred Oats as a "gentle" soul who loved gardening in his later years.

"He was in World War One, he was a gunner in the artillery and trained in Egypt," Mr De La Rue said.

"He was fighting in Belgium and France when I believe he got the Spanish flu. He survived the war and came back home and started a soldier settler farm in the Mallee and retired to Swan Hill.

"I believe he was an orphan and was brought up by another family. He's been gone a while now.

"I knew him when I was in my mid-teens, he was a really nice, gentle man. He played the piano by ear and he loved gardening, he was pretty good at making things grow."

He said his grandfather never spoke about the war.

"He didn't talk about the war and I wish I asked at the time," Mr De La Rue said.

"He didn't bring it up, and at that age I suppose I wasn't interested. He only received minor injuries in the war I think, I remember he had a funny lump on his head which was a shrapnel injury.

"I wear his medals on Anzac Day every year. I do it because I think we need to commemorate the work and sacrifice those people did in the past, and that's one way of showing it.

"It's about being proud of what they did."

Police have arrested and charged a 38-year-old man of no fixed address in relation to the alleged theft about 4pm on June 26 in Wheal Street, Colac.

He has been charged with handling stolen goods, proceeds of crime, drug possession and bail-related matters.

The man appeared at Colac Magistrates' Court on July 1 and has been further remanded to appear before the Colac Magistrates' Court on August 28.

Leading Senior Constable Martin Howells, of Colac police, said it took the help of the community to track down Mr De La Rue.

"There were a few involved, there was the RSL, the Australian War Museum, the Colac Cemetery Board and the Colac Family History Group," he said.

"We knew whose medals they were by looking on Ancestry.com, and discovered he was buried in the Colac cemetery.

"Merrill O'Donnell from the Colac and District Family History Group was the final piece in the puzzle.

"We were put onto her by the RSL and she told us to give her until Monday to find out whose they were. She got back to us an hour later."

Leading Senior Constable Howells said returning the medals was one of the best moments of his career as a police officer.

"This is definitely a highlight of my career to be able to return something like that to their owner," he said.

"Unfortunately all my granddad's medals were all stolen and have never been recovered.

"I like to think family history is important. It's a good result."

Merrill O'Donnell used the Colac and District Family History Group's database which has over 350,000 entries to find Alfred Oats' details and Mr De La Rue.

"First I checked our cemetery records and found the date that Alfred died. Our records also have the names of parents and spouse, so that was helpful later," she said.

"I then looked up the death notice in the Colac Herald on microfilm and it named a son and a daughter and the daughter's married name was De La Rue.

"I checked the cemetery records and there was a Marjorie De La Rue who died in 2014, so I checked the database and we had her funeral booklet in our collection. It had 'words of remembrance' by Luke De La Rue and Geoff De La Rue - often that would be a son.

"I found the Colac Herald from 2014 with her death notices, which were fairly detailed and confirmed that her son was indeed Geoff.

"Then knowing Geoff had a business in Colac, I looked up whitepages the internet for his phone details so I could ring and check if his mother was Marjorie, but his mobile rang out, so then I 'Googled' his business name and phoned his landline.

"His work colleague answered and confirmed that Geoff would not be back in Colac for two weeks and that his mother had died in recent years."

She said the good resources at the Family History Group made it possible.

"It took maybe between half and hour and an hour from when I arrived at the family history group to do duty to being able to find the owner of the medals. We have some really good resources there.

"It's been lovely to be part of getting these medals back.

"One thing the family history group is doing now is trying to get the war history of the local WWI soldiers."

Mr De La Rue said he will keep the medals in a secure place from now on.

"I'll put them somewhere safer in a prominent area of the house," he said.

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