Scarborough woman hopes to return war vet's WW 1 medals

[ENGINEERS WIFE]

Woman hopes to return war vet's medals

By BRIAN GRAY, SUN MEDIA

The Toronto Sun   
 


 

TORONTO -- A Scarborough resident has an old tin can full of World War I memories - the problem is they aren't her own.

Shirley Allaway and her husband, Jim, are looking for the family of a deceased veteran of the conflict so they can return the medals, a birth certificate and even an old picture of what is presumed to be the vet all held for safe keeping in an aging can of Fry's Pure Breakfast Cocoa.

"We're hoping at the very least to find these a good home," Allaway, 62, said. "My kids aren't going to want them and I don't want them to end up in the garbage."

The name on the birth certificate is Charles Audley Jeffs, born Sept. 14, 1889 in St. Mary, Shrewsbury, England.

The Library and Archives of Canada's collectionscanada.gc.ca website confirms he did serve as a soldier in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the war.

And the regimental number matches the one pounded into the leather identification tags that are in Allaway's possession.

Allaway said she believes Jeffs was a neighbour of her uncle, Thomas Holt, back in the 1980s in an apartment building on Maitland St. between Church and Yonge Sts. but that's about all they know about him.

"(Jeffs) gave the medals to my uncle but he never spoke about him," she said. "We don't know anything more than what's on this table."

The tin can treasure trove passed on to Allaway's mother after her uncle died and then arrived at Allaway's house about six or seven years ago.

Several of the medals identify Pte. CA Jeffs as a member of the 2nd Batallion Canadian Machine Gun Corps.

Along with what appear to be some post-war badges and buttons -- including one from the International Order of Odd Fellows -- there are a few significant-looking medals.

One is marked on the front with "CEF service at the front" while on the back it warns "penalty for misuse $500 or six months imprisonment."

Two medals have been preserved in plastic and both are mounted on ribbons. One has the profile of King George V with the dates 1914-1918 on it and the other reads, "The Great War for civilization 1914-1919."

If Jeffs has no surviving family, Allaway said she'd like to see them go to a place where they will be cared for and respected.

"I'm not sure where that might be at this point, maybe a museum," she said. "I just know there has got to be a good place for them to go."

BRIAN.GRAY@SUNMEDIA.CA

 

[Michael OLeary]

Story link.

The soldier's record in the Library and Archives Canada Soldiers of the First World War database, with links to his attestation paper can be found here.

 

[PMedMoe]

Mystery of WW1 soldier's medals deepens
Article Link

A search on the other side of the ocean for the family of a Canadian First World War vet has led to a search on the other side of Canada.

A 74-year-old man in England has stepped forward as a likely relative of Pte. Charles Audley Jeffs.

The service medals of Jeffs are currently resting in an old tin can inside the Scarborough home of Shirley Allaway.

She inherited the medals, birth certificate and a photo from an uncle who once lived in the same apartment building as Jeffs on Maitland St., near College and Yonge Sts.

Allaway wants to return the medals to Jeffs' descendants but didn't know anything about him until a search led to his hometown of Shrewsbury, England.

Reaction to a story in the local paper there last week turned up John Teckoe, who says his mother was Jeffs' half-sister.

But Teckoe said Jeffs could also have family in Vancouver. Jeffs' sister, Evelyn, had a daughter who moved to Vancouver, Teckoe said. But the address he has is an old one.

"I'm going to see what we can find out," said Dave Thomson, who has worked to reunite war medals with families about 300 times in the last several years. "With a name like Falkenberg, we can hopefully find out something about them."

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