Medals reappear in dead of night
Medals stolen from a former New Zealand Army major – who was too devastated to attend Anzac Day without them – have been returned to his Porirua home under cover of darkness.
Earlier this year, Steven Heller, 58, was so dismayed to find someone had pinched eight medals spanning his 27 years of military service in the New Zealand and Australian defence forces from his home that he did not attend an Anzac Day ceremony for the first time in half a century.
But he was filled with relief when his wife found the medals and a stolen formal jacket rolled up in a plastic bag left at his front door early on Thursday.
‘‘Everything’s in the same condition as I left it in my wardrobe. It was quite emotional for me,’’ Heller said.
He felt ‘‘fairly confident’’ whoever had taken the medals would not be able to do much with them thanks to their uniqueness, as well as the accompanying media attention. ‘‘But I was hoping beyond hope they hadn’t just biffed them in the bin.’’
The medals included recognition of Heller’s time served with the Australian Defence Force and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) for work in former Yugoslavia, and other hotspots.
They were attached to a sports blazer, featuring five army sports pockets. Heller, who now works for the Ministry of Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki, said the last time he wore them was to a funeral in January.
‘‘It’s a jacket that no-one else has got . . . There’s no point in trying to wear it anywhere, people would know who it belongs to.’’
They were only kept in one place, there were no signs of forced entry, and the home had an alarm.
Heller had attended Anzac Day events since he was 5. He was introduced to it by his grandfather, who fought in World War II.