Widows cheated out of war vets' medals

A NZ Distinguished Service Order. Photo / Supplied.

War medal collectors are combing newspaper death notices to harass families of late veterans for their medals, grieving families say.

Others are offering ridiculously low prices to vulnerable widows, who may be unaware of the medals' real value.

And one is accused of taking medals to find replicas or second-hand replacements to complete sets - then failing to return either the originals or the replacements.

The Herald on Sunday has tracked the activities of one South Island dealer whose Trade Me account has been disabled after complaints.

He and his wife would not comment, but the Herald on Sunday has been told of two occasions when police went to his house to retrieve medals.

Aucklander Paul Mannion sent the trader a group of medals - and ended up having to travel to the South Island to recover them.

Mannion's grandfather Brigadier George Palmer Cade had been awarded medals from various World War II campaigns. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for acts of bravery and "mentioned in dispatches".

Mannion wanted a full set of the medals his grandfather had been awarded, as well as replicas made for his own two sons, aged 11 and 14.

He contacted the medals office at the Defence Force and was able to claim a couple of medals that his grandfather hadn't received. He sent these to the trader with a request for replicas or second-hand replacements of the remaining medals.

After handing over more and more cash - $2000 more than originally agreed - Mannion eventually realised the job would never be completed. So he travelled to the South Island to recover the medals, with a police escort.

Auckland woman Donna Baker, 48, parted with more than $6000 upfront for replacement medals awarded to four family members who had served in WWI and WWII, including her father.

Her son Toby, 14, wanted them after having his interest piqued by an Anzac Day Dawn Parade and studying New Zealand's war efforts at school.

After nine months, she made a police complaint about the South Island trader. Police seized and returned two of her father's New Zealand operational medals.

Claims and counter-claims have been lodged with courts, the latest being a civil lawsuit the dealer has filed against Baker for $21,000.

Air Force historian Peter Wheeler said many widows "unwittingly" parted with their late husbands' medals for very little money, sometimes for nothing.

"Collectors will contact them and ask, 'What are you going to do with them? You can give them to me, because they are not worth anything'."

Collectors would find people with medals by combing through death notices in newspapers, he said. "Quite often the notice includes the service number and collectors can go online with that information to confirm what medals that person received."

He added: "The medals are mostly sold offshore and they are gone. I'm sure it's happening every week."

Wheeler said many families would be stunned to know the genuine value of medals. A Distinguished Flying Cross from the Battle of Britain could fetch between $10,000 and $45,000.