Veteran on quest to deliver WW I medal to rightful owner's loved ones

Ambrose Lucas's hands shake as he removes the red cover on the Royal Canadian Legion box.

He carefully lifts a ribbon from the case and delicately places it in his fingers. 

"This is the medal right here," he said.

He has kept the British War Medal in his bedside table for a decade, pondering the story of its rightful owner — a solider born in 1895 who served 14 months with the Royal Navy Reserve.

"My intention was to get information about the medal, get information about the owner of the medal and hopefully someday find some members of the family and return the medal back to where it belongs," Lucas said.

Lucas was a combat medic in Croatia during the Battle of the Medek Pocket. He retired from the military almost 20 years ago and is a well decorated veteran living in Stephenville Crossing, on Newfoundland's west coast.

Everyone calls him Joebag, a nickname that has stuck since the 1970s.

A Remembrance Day parade, about a decade ago, a friend of Lucas from Stephenville Crossing — Charlie House — presented him with the First World War medal. House thought it would be best to give it to Lucas, given his military background.

The story goes that House's father got the medal in the 1930s on a trade in a Cape Breton logging camp. A solider named Walter Hodder needed 10 dollars.

"He gave it to Charlie House's dad for the $10 that he lent him and he told him when he came back he would give him back his $10 and the agreement was he would give him back his medal," explained Lucas.

"But Mr. House went back to the logging camp, [and] this gentleman from Ireland's Eye never did return. Mr. House held it on, and when he passed away Charlie decided to bring me the medal and see what information I could find. " 

Lucas has done some digging over the years. He started by taking the medal to the Legion branch in Stephenville to have it mounted, complete with a blue ribbon. Then, he called The Rooms, where staff provided him with documents that told the story of its owner, Walter Hodder.

The documents state he was born in 1895 and joined the Royal Navy Reserve on his 23rd birthday. He was born in a place called Ireland's Eye — an island in Trinity Bay — and resided in Deer Harbour. 

He served as a seaman on four vessels for 14 months and on April 7, 1919, he was granted special grace from the military to come ashore.