Whakatāne man looking for owner of British World War I medal

Troops wait to board troopship No. 10 (the Arawa) at Wellington, 1914. Photo / NZ Herald

A military mission of a different kind is under way: to reunite a World War I medal with its whānau.

The British War medal was found on the ground in a car park at Ōhope Beach in Whakatāne just after Anzac Day in April.

Whakatāne man Sandy Milne picked it up and has been looking for its owner ever since.

He has tried the RSA, the community and police - but it has all been a dead end.

Milne told Checkpoint he saw the medal in the middle of the car park while walking down the hill to Ōhope Beach.

“When I picked it up and started reading the number and the fact that the guy was a rifleman, in the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces, with the last name Hay, I went to the police,” he said.

The medal is silver and has King George V on it, he said.

“With a thing like this it only motivates me to try harder, so if anyone knows who the relatives of this gentleman are, I’d be very happy to hand it over,” he said.

He said he thinks it belongs to someone from Whakatāne, Ōpōtiki, Tauranga or Rotorua.

“I went into the RSA in Whakatāne and they referred me to the police and they couldn’t help. They wanted the medal but I said no: I want to find who it belongs to.

“But the police are really busy and so I went knocking on doors of people called Hay, and there’s a few in Whakatāne.”

Milne said he thinks the man who earned the medal probably died 50, 60 or even 70 years ago.

“If I was his son or grandson, I’d like to keep it,” he said.

“If you know a person called Hay, I’m your man.”

Checkpoint has managed to find out more about the recipient of the medal - thanks to Ian Martyn, the founder of Medals Reunited.

It belonged to Frank Victor Hay who was a coach builder from Gisborne. He went to war as a rifleman in 1915 at the age of 19. He joined the 1st Battalion of the third NZ Rifle brigade and landed in France in 1916.

Hay died on the first day of battle at Messines, on June 7 at the age of 21.

He is buried in Belgium and the medal that Milne found was issued to his family along with the Victory Medal.

If it belongs to you, email Checkpoint and we can connect you.

- RNZ

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