A display of campaign medals formerly housed at the Mosgiel Memorial RSA has recently been reported to police as stolen, but it may have been missing for up to a decade.
The display was created by former Mosgiel RSA member and Porirua RSA life member Evan Black, and for many years it was displayed at the end of the bar at the Mosgiel clubrooms.
The collection included all campaign medals from wars this country has participated in, including the New Zealand Wars, sometimes called the Māori Wars, the South African War, also known as the Boer War, the two World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Malayan War, also known as the Malayan Emergency.
Mosgiel Memorial RSA committee member and member of the memorabilia committee Graeme Thomas said the medals were arranged in an ornate gold frame about 800cm by 500cm.
When Paul Black, brother of Evan Black phoned recently asking about the medal board, Mr Thomas contacted Evan Black to discuss the board.
This was the first time Mr Thomas became aware that the board even existed, he said.
"Two or three people confirmed that they were aware of it and I then began to make inquiries to see if I could locate it.
In October 2014, the clubrooms were closed for redevelopment, reopening after extensive renovations in June 2015.
It is possible the medal display board went missing during these alterations.
"We simply do not know when it went missing."
Some of the medals were worth a lot of money, he said.
"The Māori War Medal, you are looking at about $1200 through to $2000, the Boer War medals you are looking at approximately $350 each."
Mr Thomas said while the association hoped to recover the original display, it was also planning to recreate the medal board.
"We would like to replace all the medals but we’d also like to include General Service Medals, if we could."
The association is asking for people willing to contribute medals either through donations, or through sponsorship to help buy them.
Some of the medals were recently donated by Graeme France, and the association is hoping others will also come forward to help complete the collection.
Mr Thomas said the association is also looking for donations of mannequins so they can display a collection of World War 2 uniforms.
The uniforms were the property of Allan McCarthy and were donated by his son Brian McCarthy.
Warrant Officer McCarthy served in the Air Force and took part in advanced air training in Canada with the Royal Canadian Air Force, including operational training unit, bombing and gunnery school and at the wireless school in Winnipeg.
- Anyone who is able to help regarding giving either medals or mannequins can email admin@mosgielrsa.co.nz or phone (03) 489-7182, ext 2.
