21 September 2016

John Dixon

Fantastic work by Bill and a reflection of his great relationship with the Victorian Police.



The search for the family of VX12569 John Edward Dixon owes as much to the Companies Registration Database, as any of the myriad of records I followed to find John’s son, Graeme.
It also owes a debt of gratitude to John, who found the medals in an alley and Gary, a member of the Victoria Police and guard at the Shrine of Remembrance. Gary recognised these medals for what they were; a testimony to a young man’s service to his country. It was Gary who started the process to return the medals when he contacted ANZAC House in Melbourne, seeking assistance and it was at this point I became involved.
John Dixon passed away in 1963, his wife Joyce in 1977. Unfortunately, with time many records are no longer in existence, some because they have been disposed of after being damaged through fire or water, others have been the victim of computer upgrades and not transcribed completely or accurately. Also with time, people move, phone numbers change, and the memory of neighbours also seems to dwindle.
Despite all this John’s medals are home, how we got them there, to the family it doesn’t matter and I must admit this, keeping in mind the number of times I found myself back at the beginning, neither do I.
 
The returned medal tally is now 1934.


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