A war veteran's family have been left puzzled by the mysterious discovery of his service medals - which they believed had been burnt in a bonfire decades ago - more than 500 kilometres from his home.
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A man recently handed in the four medals belonging to World War II serviceman Hilton Charles Burrows at the Albury RSL, leading to an appeal to find his next of kin.
A Western Australian family history investigator managed to use records to track down Mr Burrows' daughter, who was at first sceptical of the claims.
Mr Burrows' son, Michael, said the family didn't have any connection to Albury.
"We were totally gobsmacked ... it came out of the blue," he said.
"It's a complete mystery to us.
"It's raised a lot more questions than we have answers for."
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The family believed the medals had been with an estranged son and were burnt by someone he was living with in about 1995.
Michael said he had planned to restore a painted photograph of his father and display it with the medals, which was put on hold after hearing they had been destroyed.
"How they ended up in Albury is anybody's guess," he said.
Mr Burrows, a father-of-six, lived in Sydney from 1970 until his death in 1994.
He rarely spoke of his time in the army, between May 1943 to February 1946.
Mr Burrows and three of his siblings will collect the medals from Albury RSL president Graham Docksey next month.
His son wants to personally thank those involved.
Mr Docksey said it was amazing how quickly Mr Burrows' next of kin had been found.
"It's an excellent outcome," he said.
"We still don't know the circumstances under which this fella handed them in.
"It would be interesting if he wanted to contact us again."
