World War One veteran's medals returned to family by stranger

A woman has been united with her grandfather's World War One medals after a stranger bought them online.

Jocelyn Trent, from Peterborough, was unaware her mother's father had served in the war until she received a Facebook message from Adam Simpson-York, who lives in Suffolk.

He had purchased the medals on an auction site and decided to trace them back to living relatives.

Ms Trent said it was "incredible" to have received a "family heirloom".

"I nearly fell to the ground when I spoke to Adam as I was in complete denial that a stranger could know something about my family that I didn't know," the 65-year-old.

In December, Mr Simpson-York bought the British War Medal and Victory Medal for £35 online and, after discovering they belonged to Charles Leonard Sharman, began trying to track down any living relatives.

Using resources such as the National Archives, ancestry websites and Facebook, the postman from Ipswich was able to trace the medals back to Ms Trent.

The 35-year-old sent Ms Trent a message on Facebook and asked if her parents were Norman and Betty Bailey, as he believed he had her grandfather's WW1 medals.

"I was overwhelmed," Ms Trent said.

"I never knew my grandad served in WW1. I have no family, only my daughter, so to be able to bring a family heirloom home from 107 years ago - I just don't believe it."

From Mr Simpson-York's ancestry work, Ms Trent has since discovered she has more than 20 second cousins, some of whom live nearby, as well as an aunt and three cousins in Australia.

Mr Simpson-York said he had got into ancestry a few years ago and decided to try tracing the rightful owners of medals as he was "bored" during lockdown.

The first medal he bought was traced back to a man who happened to be a war medal expert and shared tips with Mr Simpson-York to help him with his new hobby.

He said he often felt "nervous" when contacting relatives he had traced but the feeling was replaced with "butterflies" after contacting Ms Trent, who was "over the moon" to learn of his discovery.

Ms Trent was so touched by Mr Simpson-York's work that she offered to pay for another veteran's medals to be sent to his great-granddaughter who was unable to afford them.

"It is so amazing for families to have these items which are a part of their history," she said.

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