SERVICE medals not issued to World War I soldier Lance Corporal Keith Eric Griffin have been given to Hinton Public School, which he attended a century ago.
Sydney resident Roger McFetridge presented the Victory Medal and the British War Medal honouring Lance Corporal Griffin - his grandfather's brother - to the school at its Anzac Day ceremony on Thursday.
Lance Corporal Griffin's name is on the school's memorial gates.
"It seems there's more value in the younger generation having some exposure to what happened to some of their fellow countryman and indeed fellow school pupils in years gone by [than me]," said Mr McFetridge, who read aloud on Thursday Lance Corporal Griffin's last five diary entries.
"I have all of the knowledge or the awareness and indeed a whole pile of photos and articles, but if the medals themselves can assist in getting some greater awareness [about the horrors of war and sacrifices made], all the better."
Mr McFetridge said he was pleased to see his ancestor's homecoming of sorts and that his memory would be kept alive.
"It was pretty neat," he said.
"I was reassured and it was heartwarming [hearing about the students' research into Lance Corporal Griffin].
"I was saying to my wife driving away I feel comfortable that the medals are in a good place in terms of certainly what's been demonstrated with them picking up on the story of one of their prior classmates. I was pleasantly surprised with what they knew and how they embraced the whole thing."
The Newcastle Herald reported in April 2021 that Hunter historians Yvonne Fletcher and John Gillam had compiled a list of WWI soldiers who weren't issued medals for various reasons and were looking for relatives of Lance Corporal Griffin and Corporal Andrew Kennedy.
They hoped to help them apply to Defence Honours and Awards to request the unissued medals.
The Herald reported last November Mr McFetridge had been awarded Lance Corporal Griffin's medals after Maitland and Beyond Family History's Christine Barrett traced his family tree. Bolwarra Heights' Brian Banister received his grandfather's uncle Corporal Kennedy's medals.
Mr Gillam said the search had come "full circle". "It's an experience we think those children won't ever forget," he said.
"Personally it's very satisfying for us to bring them home but even better is the legacy we're leaving... hopefully each year they will start to research people off those memorial gates and put their stories together."
Hinton Public year five and six teacher Kathryn Oliver said she was "blown away" by Mr McFetridge giving the medals to the school.
"We are all so grateful that we're able to have this opportunity because it really is - like I said to my students - a once in a lifetime thing. This does not happen to many people, so we are just so grateful and lucky and really privileged."
She said the medals would be mounted and displayed in the school library, alongside framed copies of his diary entries in the lead up to his death aged 21 on July 29, 1916.
She said her students started researching Lance Corporal Griffin's life in term one after Mr Gillam and Ms Fletcher contacted her.
She said her students had created a detailed timeline about his life starting with his enlistment to be displayed in her classroom.
They also gave a speech about him on Thursday.
"The kids all have a really good understanding now of who he was and what he went through," she said.
"It's been huge for them, it's really put into perspective what Anzac means to them and in their own hometown.
"Being able to put a face to it, to understand his life, to understand who his mother and father were, how many siblings he had, that's really hit home for a lot of them to really develop a lot more respect and appreciation for it and to understand why we do have Anzac Day... it connects them to it a lot more and it gives them that sense of ownership, that we are responsible for Keith Griffin's medals now."
She said future students would continue to research and honour Lance Corporal Griffin.
"We really only probably scraped the surface, I would imagine there's quite a lot more we could uncover before he enlisted in the war."
Mr Gillam and Ms Fletcher have established a pilot program that involves them helping schools learn about an "untraceable" soldier and apply for their unissued medals.
