Albury's Marilyn Forrest honours her Uncle Jack's bravery during WWII

Soldiers come home, try to resume their normal lives and all too often never talk about their combat experiences.

So Albury's Marilyn Forrest appreciates being able to honour the actions of her mother's cousin, the man she called Uncle Jack.

Stanley Quinn, known as Jack, served in New Guinea during World War II.

Originally from the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, he moved to Mitta in later life, relishing the peace and quiet offered in the country.

Ms Forrest remembers Uncle Jack, now deceased, visiting her family at Christmas.

"I'd just sit on his knee and we'd laugh and joke, and never talk about the war," she said. "He never went to a march (on Anzac Day)."

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But others had recorded when then-Lance Corporal Quinn saved the life of a fellow soldier as they fought to take Mount Tazaki late in the war.

A newspaper cutting from the time described how Private Tommy Maxwell had been a forward scout and a bullet from a Japanese sniper struck his Owen gun.

"The weapon was knocked partly from his grasp and the magazine hit him on the chin," the article said.

"Private Maxwell was stunned and in his efforts to get clear, it was seen he was moving towards the enemy."

The article noted he was rescued by L/Cpl S. Quinn.

"He just ran in front of all that firing and grabbed the kiddie and pulled him back behind the lines and didn't get even a scratch," Ms Forrest said.

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Soldiers might brush off such incidents, but Private Maxwell's mother then wrote to Uncle Jack's mother.

"I think your son is a very brave boy to have rescued Tommy," Margaret Maxwell wrote.

"Tommy is my eldest child and my only son, 20 years of age, so you will know how grateful I feel to your son.

"God bless him and you."

Uncle Jack threw his war medals in the tip around the time of the Vietnam War, sickened by the thought of more conflict, but the letter and clipping were kept.

"He just handed it to me one day when I went to visit him at Mitta, said 'Do you want that stuff?'," Ms Forrest recalled.

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