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Descendants of Sir Howard Kippenberger said they paid for war hero Charles Upham's two Victoria Crosses because they wanted to keep them at the Waiouru Army Museum.
Guy Weston, 46, the grandson of Sir Howard and the chairman of the Garfield Weston Foundation, said they gave a grant for more than $3 million to the Imperial War Museum in London last year so they could purchase the medals. The museum then loaned them back to Waiouru for 999 years.
On Tuesday, the Imperial War Museum revealed the foundation was the mystery benefactor which paid for Upham's VCs last year after Upham's daughters controversially sold them.
"We wanted to make sure the medals stayed in New Zealand," Guy Weston said.
The foundation is part of the British Weston family empire which gives millions of pounds a year to various causes.
Sir Howard was Upham's World War II commanding officer.
Guy Weston's mother Mary - Sir Howard's daughter - and her husband Garry Weston, who died in 2002, were good friends of Upham and his family and would get together regularly.
Members of the Upham family phoned Mary on Monday to tell her the medals had been stolen.
"They're all pretty upset, they're hoping the medals will turn up. This is an absolute tragedy," Guy Weston said.
