MISSING MEDAL: Joshua Tombs with the medal case and photograph of his late father, Corporal Brett Tombs.
THIS year's Anzac Day was memorable for all the wrong reasons for Joshua Tombs, when one of his late father's service medals went missing at the Wicklow Hotel.
The 22-year-old wore the medals in Armidale’s Anzac Day march on Wednesday, before playing two-up at the Ex-Services Club.
After 7pm he left the club and made his way over to the Wicklow, where he showed two college friends the medals and explained their significance.
When he walked out to the smoking area, a friend pointed out that one of the medals was missing.
"I spoke to at least 50 people at the pub and asked them to keep an eye out, went up to the bar 50 times and was just asking all night whether it had been handed in yet," he said. "I'm assuming someone's picked it up and hasn't handed it in, just because there weren't many places it could have been.”
Police are investigating the incident, but as of yesterday they had received no information about the medal’s whereabouts.
Mr Tombs and his family are appealing for the return of the medals and have offered a reward to anyone who comes forward with them.
Corporal Brett Tombs was killed in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Townsville in 1996.
Mr Tombs was presented with his father's medals by Brigadier Mike Silverstone at a ceremony in Perth last year.
The Returned Services League is unable to provide replacement service medals unless they are requested by a living serviceman.
“Obviously it has a lot of sentimental value,” he said. “It was on Anzac Day.
“To pick up a medal and not hand it in, especially on Anzac Day, is not the right thing to do."
The medal is polished silver with a red and white band. The Australian coat of arms and the words ‘Australian Defence Medal’ adorn the front of the medal, with service number ‘234510’ written on the underside.
Anyone with any information about the medal is advised to contact Armidale Police Station 6771 0699.