Robyn Carroll and Shelley Gledhill presented the Harden Murrumburrah Historical Society with the war medals of the late Leslie Frank Goldsmith last Thursday night.

The medals along with a commemorative picture book will be on display at the Harden Murrumburrah Museum for visitors to view.

Les Goldsmith passed away in 2007, aged 90, and had no contactable family located in Australia.

His belongings remained in storage until 2011 and would eventually end up in landfill.

Robyn said this was a heart breaking sight to see.

In 2014, while relocating offices at St. Lawrence Robyn discovered an old White Wings cake mix box.

In this box were Les’ World War II medals along with his driver’s licence, bank books, old coins and watches.

Robyn was saddened to see that what was one of Les’ most prized possessions had been discarded into a box and not claimed.

“It seemed somewhat disrespectful to see these war medals had not been shown the proper respect.” Robyn said.

Robyn vowed to one day track down Les’ family and return the medals. 

For the next five years the medals remained in the safe until Robyn asked Lost Medals Australia for help.

Lost Medals Australia found a custodian of Les’ family tree but despite several attempts to make contact they never received a reply.

The medals then went back into the safe.

Robyn wasn’t going to give up easily when she heard that Glen McNamara was a volunteer tour guide at the Australian War Memorial.

After Glen found out about the medals he felt that if Lost Medals Australia couldn’t find Les’ family then there wasn’t much else that could be done and the medals remained locked in the safe.

Glen visited St. Lawrence a fortnight later and enquired about the medals. 

He then offered to have the medals restored and framed as a donation from himself and family to the St. Lawrence facility.

Robyn said “Glen believed that I had tried my best to locate Les’ family and that we were now custodians of the medals.”

Glen also believed that the medals needed to be shown the proper respect and should be shown on display.

This thought resulted in the medals being displayed in a commemorative area at St. Lawrence where the medals could be viewed by residents.

While Glen was trying to find where Les served he enlisted the help of Sandy Sanderson, Deborah Lang, Ray Goodacre and Peter Seymor, located in both Australia and the United Kingdom.

They found that Les served with Britain when they declared war on Germany after they invaded Poland in 1939. 

It is understood that Les was a volunteer gunner in a territorial or part-time regiment in Britain who was later allocated to the 82nd Light Anti-Aircraft and Anti-Tank Regiment of Royal Artillery which was raised in September 1941.

Leaving Liverpool and heading to the Middle East soon after being formed, Les’ Regiment was diverted to India when Japan entered the war in early December of 1941.

Les’ Regiment was deployed as a part of the British 14th Army where they faced dangerous conflict, hospitable terrain and climate.

Les’ Regiment were in Bombay in January 1942 and at the end of March were ready for battle.

The Regiment, joined by the Indian 23rd Division, were then deployed to India’s Eastern frontier on the Imphal region to help stop the Japanese from invading further. 

For a brief period in 1942, the 23rd Division stood alone facing potential Japanese invasion.

The 17th Indian Division later joined Les’ regiment and were involved in heavy fighting around Tiddim in the Chin Hills.

The Regiment was successful in stopping the Japanese until they proceeded with a major attack to take India in 1944.

Les and his Regiment fought their way up Tiddim Road where they won a number of battles.

During this time the Regiment had three different roles which included anti-tank, anti-aircraft and as infantry.

It is likely during this time that Les was in the thick of the fighting.

After 9 months of intense battle the Regiment was withdrawn for a break.

In January 1945 the Regiment joined the British Army’s conquest to retake Burma alongside the Indian Army.

Heavy fighting was involved in taking back Rangoon with both the British and Indian Army faced with a strong Japanese resistance.

The battle between the Japanese and allied forces continued across the Irrawaddy River near Mandalay and into Rangoon prior to the monsoon season at the end of April 1945.

After the war in Europe appeared to be over and the battle in Burma looked close to the end, the 82nd Regiment was disbanded and Les was sent back to Britain where he left the Army in May of 1945.

Shelley presented the medals alongside Robyn on behalf of Glen who could not make the presentation.

When Southern Cross Care announced they would be closing the doors of St. Lawrence located in Harden in January of 2020 Glen became custodian of the medals.

It is unknown how or why Les came to live in Australia.

It was hoped that one day the medals would be returned to the facility if it was ever reopened.

Robyn said, “Both Glen and I feel that there would be no real connection between and of the new operators and Les.”

“We didn’t want them [the medals] to end up in a hallow hall in Sydney somewhere with no connection to the district and wanted them to stay in the community.” Robyn said.

The picture book was made to show the story of the medals so the people viewing them in the museum will know why the medals are on display.

“People can flick through the picture book and see what the story is all about.” Robyn said.

Robyn only knew Les for a short time while working in care but remembers him being kind and humble.

She believes that the medals should be displayed “So that Les’ memory and that of all our war heroes can be remembered.”