DIG FOR VICTORY
Hero’s family receive his cherished World War One medal 28 years after it was found in a mum’s garden
The medal recipients family had no idea he had even served in the war
A HERO’S family have been given his cherished World War One medal — 28 years after a mum found it in her garden.
Tanya Dye spotted Private Arthur Ablitt’s Victory Medal while digging her patch in 1996.
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She phoned people with the surname to no avail but clung on to the gong through four house moves.
The Royal Mail cleaner then discovered a colleague was into genealogy — postie Adam Simpson-York.
He used family-history websites to track down Pte Ablitt’s great nephew, Barry Earthy, 76, who plans to frame the medal.
Pte Ablitt served with the Machine Gun Corps.
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He survived a shrapnel wound to marry Lillian, and worked on a farm until his death at 68 in 1963.
Barry said: “I had no idea he was in the war. I’m so grateful to Tanya and Adam. The medal will stay in our family forever as a reminder of his service.”
Tanya, 53, who like Barry is from Ipswich, said: “I’m over the moon that my 28-year-long quest is over.
“I could see a name on the medal. I kept it because I thought about what it must have meant to the recipient.”
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Adam, 37, who runs the Medals Going Home page on Facebook, added: “I love a challenge and knew I could find the family. Private Ablitt didn’t have children but his brother Walter had a son whose son was Barry.
“The family were so excited when I got in touch. The WWI generation is gone now, and so anything I can do to keep their stories alive is worth it.”
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