Picture: Brisbane Airport
A lost property auction and Facebook posts across two countries allowed a Townsville Vietnam veteran to reunite with his medals in time for Remembrance Day.
Townsville resident Malcolm Edmiston lost the medals on his way to Christchurch, New Zealand, just before last year’s commemoration.
He had considered the medal lost in Christchurch and returned to Townsville empty-handed, he told airport media staff (www.bne.com.au).
“I thought they were lost and lost for good. I had no idea where they were. If they were anywhere, I thought they were in Christchurch, certainly not in Brisbane,” says the 83-year-old.
“Wow! A chance to get them back, I was really missing them.”
Two months ago, Brisbane Airport launched a national campaign to find the owner of the medals, found in the international terminal but never listed for sale.
“From the very beginning, this was about finding the owner of these precious items and it took a community-wide effort to locate Malcolm, and we’re so glad it succeeded,” airport spokesperson Peter Doherty says.
“These medals were never listed in the auction and we knew the public would help us find their owner. We had 100 super sleuths ring up and offer to help solve this mystery.”
Townsville’s Malcolm Edmiston with his medals and a service photo. Picture: Brisbane Airport
After media coverage in Australia and New Zealand, people shared photos of the medals on veterans’ Facebook pages which is where Edmiston saw them.
“I found them on Facebook; it came up and said that Brisbane Airport has these medals and is looking for the owner. As soon as I saw them, I said, ‘they’re mine!’”
Edmiston contacted the airport and the medals were returned to him in Townsville.
“I think the timing is quite magical when you think about it,” he said.
In 1968, Edmiston was sent to Vietnam for 12 months as a construction engineer to help build operating theatres, barracks, offices, storerooms and workshops on bases.
“Most of the time it was pretty easy but every so often there were events which became very hairy and very scary,” he says.
He returned home in 1969 in time to see many of the National Servicemen (Nashos) that he had served with struggle in the face of a hostile public reception.
“Generally, for us in the regular army, we went back and we were within an army community. We didn’t take any notice of the opinions of outsiders so that was basically the way one survived and then PTSD eventually got us all — usually that wasn’t until much later,” Edmiston says.
“Whereas Nashos came back and immediately got out, that’s when a lot of them were hit with PTSD straight away. Most of the regulars were fine until they got out.
“For me I got out and was then in the Army Reserve. When that ceased, all of a sudden, the whole world fell in on top of me,” Edmiston says.
“Which is why the medals mean so much, so it’s really great to get them back.”
His medals also include recognition for his service in cleaning up after Cyclone Yasi in 2011 and the Townsville floods in 2019, as well as the Defence Long Service Medal.
Edmiston was a part of yesterday’s Remembrance Day commemorations in Townsville.
