At Willaura's Anzac Day Service, Peter Aldridge will be wearing a medal that belonged to a remarkable man and went on a remarkable story to be returned to his family.
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Peter's father, John George Hector Aldridge, lived in Willaura for most of his life and was buried in Willaura Cemetry after he passed away in 1973, aged 63.
However, Hector, often known as 'Buster', was also a Japanese prisoner of war in Changi for about three years during World War Two.
Hector rarely spoke of his time during the war, but Peter said others had told him some extraordinary things about his father.
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"He was apparently very, very brave. He would put his life at risk and steal food from the Japanese to give to some of the other men who were starving," he said.
"They said he did get caught and he got an absolute flogging but it didn't stop him."
Peter's wife, Jan, said she had also encountered people who remembered Hector's heroism.
"Someone I didn't even know told me he knew Peter's dad from the war years, and he said 'that man saved my life'," she said.
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Yet, a part of Hector's history also eluded him.
"The family knew that he had medals at one point, and nobody knew what happened to them over the years," Peter said.
However, in 2020 this suddenly changed.
"It was during COVID last year, it was from our cousins in Ararat. They said 'Jan and Pete you've got to get on the internet because somebody is looking for Buster's family,'" Peter said.
It turned out a man named 'Jim' had found one of Hector's medals about 60 years earlier but had only recently discovered its owner's identity.
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"He was only about 12 when he found it and thought it very interesting. He found it in an old jacket pocket beside the highway," said Peter.
"He took it home and just put it in a draw and didn't give it much more thought after that.
"He said the funny thing about it was that whenever he moved homes, the medal always went with him.
"He didn't realise there was a name engraved around the rim of it. HJG Aldridge was engraved around it, but it was a bit worn, so he didn't notice it until later.
"When COVID hit he thought it was time for him to find the owner of it."
Peter said he was happy Jim had decided to do so.
"It's wonderful to have it back in the family, it's something we never thought would happen," he said.
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