93-year-old Donald Nicholson was beside himself with grief when he realized that in the blink of an eye, his war medals were gone.
Nicholson had earned the medals as a bomber in World War II when he saved his crew after their plane was shot down over Hamburg. Alone, he conducted 31 bombing raids during the war.
He thought he lost the medals at the Bombing Command Memorial, where he had attended its opening.
Realizing that his medals were gone, he initiated a search for them; family and neighbors helped him look around the neighborhood, and he even went on television with an emotional message. He hoped that whoever had, or found, the medals would soon return them. To the veteran, they are priceless.
More than 60 volunteers even helped scan the memorial with metal detectors, with no result.
Meanwhile, a man named Paul and his dog Molly found the medals — right outside Nicholson's front door. They had fallen out of his pocket as he had gotten into the car that was taking him to the memorial.
Paul turned them in to a local police station, where they were safe until Paul spoke to one of the vet's neighbors, who revealed that they in fact belonged to Donald.
Now, Donald has his medals back on his chest, and is so thankful for the lucky chance that they were found by someone who was willing to return them.
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(Photo credit: BBC)
'I'M LOST FOR WORDS' says Donald Nicholson as police hand back his medals. He thought he'd lost them near Lincoln ten days ago – prompting a big search – but they were found near his home at Houghton-le-Spring in Tyne and Wear. Donald is 93 and flew in thirty one bombing raids in World War Two as a flight engineer on Lancaster bombers.#RAF #BomberCommand
Posted by BBC Look North (East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire) on Monday, October 12, 2015
