Salvos Mandurah return lost war medals to airman’s family

The medals, which turned up at the Mandurah Salvos store on George Street, were collected on Friday by Bryan Philpott, the eldest grandson of veteran Athol Cope.

Mr Philpott’s wife Jillian said Mr Cope died in 1974 on the day she and her husband were engaged to be married.

Mr Cope, who was originally from Jarrahdale, served in the Royal Australian Air Force during the war and afterwards lived in Katanning where he worked as a farm hand.

Read more: Mandurah Salvos save war medals, search for rightful owner

He also owned a lolly factory, making boiled lollies for local children.

Mrs Phillpott said she was grateful for the effort store manager Scott Wilson put into finding the owner of the medals.

“We’re amazed at the effort Scott put in and the effort of the community,” she said.

“[Mr Phillpott] was very fond of his grandfather. We’re very pleased Scott the made the effort he did.”

The couple, who now live in Perth, said they weren’t sure how the medals wound up with the Salvation Army, but that they would be meeting with the descendents of Mr Cope to work out how best to preserve his war legacy.

Mr Wilson said he was just relieved the medals were now with their rightful owner.

“That was the best outcome we could have hoped for,” he said.

“There’s a bit of history there and they’ve always wanted to have their pop’s medals and obviously they were upset they wound up randomly in Mandurah.

“To say they were happy was an understatement.”

Mr Wilson said he had received about 40 emails and a dozen phone calls after the story about the lost medals appeared in the Mandurah Mail earlier this month.

The medals included a 1939 to 1945 Star, an Atlantic Star, a Pacific Star and a War Medal 1939 to 1945.

The War Medal 1939 to 1945 bears the name A. W. Cope and the service number 38549.