When Len Robinson signed up with the RAAF in 1945 as a tall and energetic 18 year old, his dream of becoming a fighter pilot were dashed when his height worked against him.
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"I travelled down to Temora to sign up but the problem was that 17 of us were over six foot tall and they weren't looking for fighter pilots, they were after bomber pilots," he said.
"However they couldn't fit two of my size into a bomber cockpit and they wanted me to go to South Australia to do a navigators course."
Rather than that Mr Robinson requested a posting to join his step father at Maureke in Dutch New Guinea, and it was there that he won a medal for going beyond the call of duty.
"I'd only been there for two days when a Dutch Colonial Forces pilot didn't pull out of a dive and crashed into the Merauke River," he said.
"They were trying to get down and retrieve the bodies but couldn't get down enough.
"I was recognised as being a champion swimmer at high school so I dived down and I never realised until after that there were about six men with rifles on the bank to shoot the crocodiles."
The next day Mr Robinson was awarded the Queen Wilhelmina Medal by the Dutch government for his efforts.
That award though came without an actual medal and it wasn't until 74 years later though that Mr Robinson received a real one.
"It was in September of 2018 and I was awarded it by deputy prime minister Michael McCormack at a surprise ceremony here in Blayney."
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After his service throughout south east Asia Mr Robinson volunteered to help out in Japan after the war, where he was injured, not by anything war related though.
"I was playing rugby and I was hit winded by a player who stood on my ear and his studs nearly ripped my ear off,"
This impacted his balance and soon after at a meeting he fell down two flights of stairs.
"I've been having physio for that now for over 70 years," he said.
It was at a physio appointment after Anzac Day in Orange that Mr Robinson misplaced his medals, and every effort by his physiotherapists at Phyz-X has failed to locate it.
"He contacted us a few days after he realised he'd lost them and also told us that he went to the Terry White chemist afterwards," a spokesperson said.
"We went and saw them but they couldn't recall if he had the medals on him or not.
"We then called the police on his behalf to let them know that who it belonged to if anyone handed them in."
If you have any information on Mr Robinson's medals email mark.logan@blayneychronicle.com.au
HELP US FIND LEN'S MEDALS
Mark Logan
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
