Impossible mission solved, son reunited with photos
WHEN a parcel arrived at the Ipswich RSL Memorial Hall from Melbourne with an old photo album inside, RSL Sub Branch member Debbie Wadwell decided to take on the seemingly unsolvable case and made it her mission to find its rightful owner.
"All the information I was given was that it belonged to a Jimmy from Ipswich," she said.
"I looked inside and saw the name, Ronald Thomson, so I googled it and found a link to the Queensland RSL Head Office saying someone was looking for some war medals.
"There was a number there and I called it asking for Jimmy and luckily the person knew him and passed on his contact details."
Until Ms Wadwell's call, Ronald 'Jimmy' Thomson feared his late father's treasured photo album was lost forever.
"My father and I shared the same name. I was a very astute child so when my mother called my name when I was in trouble I just told her I thought she was calling dad," he said.
"Since then I've been known as Jimmy."
The Raceview resident said his father passed away in 2004 at age 88 with the album getting lost when his things were cleared out.
"The album has photos from his war years in Syria, Egypt, Africa and Palestine," he said.
"I remember 30 or 40 years ago he would sit around with his mates from the war and look at it."
Mr Thomson said he couldn't believe he had been reunited with the treasured photos after losing them more than 10 years ago.
"Debbie's phone call came out of the blue," he said.
"It's absolutely fantastic to have people that care. I'm very appreciative of the work Debbie did and to Wendy Creighton who sent it up.
"You appreciate your parents more as you get older. It means a lot having it back."
Although she doesn't plan on becoming a detective any time soon, Ms Wadwell said the act showed what Ipswich RSL was about.
"I'm ex-army myself so I know what it means. That's just what we do," she said.
Mr Thomson is still looking for his father's five missing war medals with the service number NX8770.
