Sask. historian connects Second World War medals with family overseas

George Mann, born in 1905 in Liverpool, was a British sailor in the Royal Navy who served in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. (Photo courtesy of John Brady McDonald)

Saskatchewan historian John Brady McDonald set out on a mission about four months ago to reunite a Second World War veteran’s medals with his family.

The historian got the medals and two photographs from a collector based in Edmonton. How they ended up there remains a mystery as they belonged to British sailor George Mann.

After months of sifting through archives and genealogy databases, McDonald’s search led him overseas to Liverpool, England.

“When the pieces of the puzzle start to stick together, it feels like mission accomplished,” McDonald told CTV News.

Two weeks ago, McDonald made contact with Mann’s great-niece, Jane Craig, after initially reaching out to her mother.

Craig and her family “were all delighted and a little bit shocked” to hear from a stranger all the way from Canada.

After confirming the family ties, McDonald mailed the medals and photographs overseas. They should arrive by next week.

“He’s doing such an amazing thing,” Craig said.

The soldier was Craig’s great-uncle. She never met him.

“I knew of him and obviously knew that he was in the war, but that’s all that I really knew,” she said.

“This has really been a lovely surprise and something that we’ve now been looking into and researching.”

Who is George Mann?

George Mann, born in 1905 in Liverpool, was a British sailor in the Royal Navy who served in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. After the Second World War, he immigrated to Canada and married Alice Margaret Silver in Saint John, N.B., in 1948.

He never returned to England, according to Craig, and never had kids.

Mann had four brothers and five sisters. Craig’s mother, Mann’s niece, is his closest living relative.

The family is hoping to learn more about Mann’s service and his story.

“The medals tell the story of where he served and what he did while he was serving,” McDonald explained.

Mann received medals for serving in the Atlantic, Africa, France and Germany. He was part of the Allied convoys that provided supplies, weapons and personnel during the Second World War. The uniform he wears in the photographs indicates he was an officer, according to McDonald.

McDonald, whose grandfather was a Second World War combat veteran, has reunited ten other sets of medals to families across Canada. This is the first family that’s been overseas, and this is the most help he’s had with one of his searches.

After news stories originally broke that McDonald was searching for clues related to Mann, he received hundreds of emails and tips. Eventually, he connected with someone who had better access to genealogy databases, which led him to Craig.

“Every day we lose those first-person perspectives to the Second World War,” McDonald said.

“Opening that door for more of a search fills me with hope that we will come out on the other end of this.”

McDonald has three other sets of medals from the First World War, Second World War and Korean War that he’s trying to return to families. He says it’s his way of making sure veterans’ memories are never forgotten.