Silver Sands WWII stolen legacy finds its way home

The family home was broken into on Friday last week, and their safe containing several family memories and the hand-written diary her father kept during WWII was stolen.

The family took to social media to to spread the word about the incident, hoping that someone would find the items dumped in the bush and would return them safe and sound in exchange for a $500 reward.

On Wednesday afternoon, after Ms Craig spent the day driving around trying to find the family’s irreplaceable memories, she received a call from her husband giving her the news.

She was stoked. 

“My husband called to say ‘two police officers have turned up with the diary and our safe’,” Ms Craig said.

The officers told her the items had been found together with another safe by a resident in a bush area near Seawind Drive, and had been handed to police.

“The diary means the world to our family and we were overwhelmed by the response of the public to help in our search,” she said.

“We are lucky this lovely honest couple found our belongings.

“They refused to accept the reward money and were grateful they could help someone out.”

Ms Craig said her father’s diary was a priceless piece of the family’s history, especially since his passing in 2012.

Her father had taken the small diary with him during his deployment with the ANZACs in the Middle East, despite it being prohibited to keep a diary.

However he managed to keep it safe and hidden until his return home.

Despite some minor water damage, the small fawn hand-written diary where Lyle Solomon wrote his thoughts throughout his deployment in WWII will preserve the family’s legacy for years to come.