Anzac birthday present cherished

As a young girl growing up in the 1930s, April 25 was always a day of mixed emotions for Joyce Wilson.

"It was not a good birthday to have. My dad always took off to the parade because it meant so much to him, and there was always a service at school, so I would go and cry my eyes out."

But as the Tihiotonga resident prepares to turn 89 tomorrow, one birthday present has meant more to her than any other: the return of her father's WWI and WWII medals, which she hadn't seen for more than 40 years.

"It is astounding. I can hardly believe I have them at long last. I am so grateful," Mrs Wilson told the Rotorua Daily Post.

Edward Henry Robinson served in the British navy as a teenager during the First World War and was awarded three medals, including the 1914 Star. After emigrating to New Zealand in 1921, he received two medals fighting for his adopted homeland in WWII.

All five went with Mrs Wilson's younger sister to Australia after their father's death in the 1970s, and Mrs Wilson feared she may never see them again. Now, with the help of her daughter and her niece in Australia, Mrs Wilson has been reunited with the medals in Rotorua.

She will wear her father's medals with pride at tomorrow's Anzac Day Civic Memorial Service at the Energy Events Centre.

"It is so important to honour those who have honoured us," she said. "Along the road, I have met people who don't understand that. I tell them, it is in no way about glorifying war, but it's to honour and respect them."

Her daughter, Robin, will stand beside her wearing the WWII medals of Mrs Wilson's late husband, Matthew, who died in 2002.

Mrs Wilson said the medals brought back memories of her father, including the stories he would tell her about growing up in Sri Lanka, then known as the British colony of Ceylon.

"He was very proud to be a naval man. He carried a lot of English traditions with him," Mrs Wilson said.

Her desire to be reunited with the medals had grown over the years.

"I am a very sentimental person and family means a great deal to me," she said. "As you age, you realise family is it."