Retired soldier gets his medals back after accidental donation

Yahoo

2 days ago

It started with spring cleaning.
Kelly and Margaret Grant, both retired from the military, filled some boxes with things they no longer needed and took them to local charities. They included suit jackets that were hanging in the closet.
What the couple didn't realize was that Kelly Grant's military medals were still pinned to one of those jackets.
Seven medals, earned over 30 years from tours in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Cyprus and Yugoslavia, had been accidently donated.
"I was hoping they were in the house, so we were looking and looking and searching, and we couldn't find them anywhere," said Grant, who retired as a master warrant officer.
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Originally from Saint John, Grant was first posted in Calgary, then Winnipeg and Victoria, before his final posting at Base Gagetown, where he retired as master warrant officer.
Among the lost medals was his prized Member of the Order of Military Merit. The Canadian Armed Forces criteria for the medal reads: "Appointment to the rank of Member of the Order of Military Merit recognizes outstanding meritorious service and demonstrated leadership in duties of great responsibility."
At the end of last year, only 3,768 of those medals had been issued since the honour was created in 1972, according to the Armed Forces website.
"Remembrance Day came and went, and I had to go to the service without my medals," Grant said. "It was very different standing with all your peers when they're displaying their medals, and I didn't have mine to display."
Just looking at his medals brought him pride. Losing them weighed on him.
"It was very saddening," he said.
After Remembrance Day, he said, he accepted that his medals were gone. Not wanting to go through another ceremony without them, Grant commissioned a set of replicas. Those cost $500.
A year later, Grant was still bothered by his medals' disappearance. He and his wife concluded they must have accidentally gone to one of several organizations that received their donations of clothing and furniture.
Earlier this month, Grant posted on Facebook marketplace, writing: "I'm sad to say that my wife and I may have donated my military medals [along] with some clothing by accident. If anyone has found them can you contact me please, ty."
Included was a photo of the medals he took from a framed portrait of him and his wife posing in their uniforms.
"I had several people reach out to me saying they may have seen my medals at the Hospice House," Grant said.
Hospice House is a 10-bed residential facility providing end-of-life care for terminally ill residents in downtown Fredericton. The charity operates on some provincial funding, and a lot of donations, including from sales of donated items.
In this case, those included the accidently donated medals.
"Someone had bought them," Grant said.
On a Sunday afternoon, Terry McCormack, a collector of military memorabilia, received a message from a friend directing him to Grant's plea for his missing medals.
"Within about 15 minutes I had contacted him," said McCormack, a former reservist of 35 years and Hospice House volunteer. "I said, 'Look, I've got your medals. Let's meet.'"
Within half an hour, the two me were at Tim Hortons.
"I was shocked and happy," said Grant, who had confirmed the medals were his after he was sent a photo of them.
McCormack said he was pleased to reunite the former soldier with his accolades. He did request Grant pay him the amount that he'd paid the charity for them.
"They weren't free," Grant told CBC News. "He had a receipt for $600, and that's what it cost me to get my medals back."
Grant was just happy the medals were in his possession again.
"I'm ecstatic to have them back," he said. "I promised these to my granddaughter, and now it's nice to say that she's going to have them."
Charity response
On learning what Grant had been through with his missing medals, Cindy Sheppard, the CEO of Hospice House, said she contacted him to let him know the charity was sending him the amount he paid to regain his medals.
"Once he told me the story, I certainly offered Kelly his $600 back, for purchasing his own medals back," said Sheppard, whose organization operates Hospice Boutique. "He shouldn't have to pay for the medals he earned through service."
Sheppard and McCormack both told CBC News that when the medals were first donated, staff tried to double-check if it was an accident, but because the Grants' donation was made anonymously, they didn't know what to do.
After holding them for a while to make sure no one was looking for them, Hospice House eventually sold them to McCormack.
And back again
But the exchanges don't end there. Grant said that after Sheppard called to send him the $600, he had a conversation with his wife.
"That was very, very, sweet of her to do," Grant said. "Now, knowing what the Hospice House stands for ... we're donating that money back to Hospice House."
"It's an all-around good story," Sheppard said. "A series of unfortunate events that led to a really good outcome."
Sheppard said any future medals sent to Hospice House will be passed on to the local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion to ensure nothing like this happens again.