24 December 2017

Tom Hanlon

I continue to be amazed at the connections that Bill and I make through Internet searches that enable us to link one part of a story to many others and eventually lead to a successful return.
This story started with an email I received from Kathy M who had the WWII medals awarded to NX150098 Thomas John Hanlon. Tom died in 1943, he drowned while crossing a river in PNG.
Tom wasn't married so I started to look at his siblings. One brother was named Jeston which made searching for him pretty easy. That is when all the connections came together. I soon found this amazing article about the Hanlon family. What I couldn't find was the contact details of the author, Joyce Overton, who was Jeston's daughter and Tom's niece. However, in her article, Joyce wrote 'When I attended one of my first meetings of the Historical Society'. A search soon found that a Joyce Overton is named as an Office Bearer for the Canterbury Historical Society. I fired of an email to the Society and very soon the Society President was putting all the pieces in place for me to connect Kathy and Joyce.
I think Joyce's story about Jessamine tells the family story pretty well.
Thanks to Kerin for all your assistance. The returned medal tally is now 2194



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