Permit To Board Ships of Leonard POWYS returned to family
Robert POWYS, the son of Leonard David POWYS never guessed that one day, he would be reunited with a piece of military memorabilia which was once issued to his father. The card, issued by the Commonwealth of Australia under the National Security (General) Regulations; gave the holder authority to board ships in Port Kembla, New South Wales during the Second World War.
Leonard David POWYS was an Ambulance Driver during 1945 and no doubt, thought the card 'important' enough to keep it amongst his possessions once hostilities ceased. It appears that the card was amongst his belongings which may have been sold during an estate sale upon his death. A dealer has placed the card on ebay and it was subequently purchased by the Medals Gone Missing team in July of 2010.
In June the following year, Emma POWYS (the grand daughter of Leonard David POWYS) found her grandfather's Permit To Board Ships and purchased the piece of militaria for her father who was very pleased to have it returned to their family. Emma stated that she "stumbled across the card" whilst searching her family name on the internet.
It really is quite rare that something like this has survived, to end up on ebay. Being a cardboard item, even back in its day, it was considered a "throw away" object once the expirey date had been reached. And the person who sold the Permit on ebay would have had little idea that it would end up back with the family of the card holder.
So it is not just missing war medals which can be returned to the family of a serviceman or woman. It is little items of empheria such as this, which can provide us with a link to our past generations and bring joy to one family.
