Family reunited with late grandfather’s war badge
<p>When Neil Robertson received an email from two history enthusiasts who were keen to reunite a Returned Soldiers Association badge with his family, he was confused. </p>
<p>"We didn't know about it."</p>
<p>Southland history buff Iain Davidson found the badge, belonging to Neil's grandfather Charles Edwin Robertson, in an antique store. </p>
<p>Davidson contacted Ian Martyn, a Kiwi army veteran who runs the website Medals Reunited New Zealand, a free service that helped reunite war medals with soldiers descendants.</p>
<p>Together the pair looked through service records and archives to identify who the badge belonged to, and to locate any living relatives. </p>
<p>Stamped on the back of the badge was the regimental number – 8/3051, making it fairly easy identify the original owner, Private Robertson, Martyn said. </p>
<p>Charles Robertson was the youngest of three brothers who served in World War I. </p>
<p>Charles and his brother, Private John Christopher Robertson, were both posted to the Western Front, fighting in the battles of Flers and Morval at the Somme.</p>
<p>Charles was reported "missing" on September 27, 1916. He was found with severe gunshot wounds to his back, right arm and right leg and was immediately evacuated to a field hospital in France and then transferred to a hospital in Birmingham, England. </p>
<p>In January 1917, he was declared "no longer fit for war service on account of wounds received in action" and on June 11, 1917, he returned to family home at Browns.</p>
<p>He was the only one who ever came home, his two brothers both died on the battlefield. </p>
<p>Neil said he was excited to be reunited with his grandfather's badge.</p>
<p>Martyn and Davidson had found him and his family through the Auckland Museum online cenotaph, Neil said.</p>
<p>His grandfather had died before he was born. That made the war memorabilia even more important because it was all Neil knew about him.</p>
<p>The family had no idea how the badge found its way into an antique store, Neil said. </p>
<p>The family was in possession of all the other war medals awarded to Charles and his brothers. </p>
<p>"It's a bit of a mystery."</p>
<p><em>Written by Joanna Griffiths. First appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz</span></strong></a>. </em></p>
