Remember the story about Chatham resident Darrin Canniff who unexpectedly received 65 letters his grandfather Sgt. Wilfred Littlejohns had written while serving in the First World War?
This turned out to be a rare find that First World War collectors could only dream of having.
It appears fate has smiled on him again with respect to finding more invaluable family heirlooms from his grandfather’s military service to Canada.
Shortly after Canniff received the letters late last year from a cousin doing genealogy research, he began a personal quest to find the medals his grandfather had earned during the war.
He was told by war history buffs and collectors that finding the medals “would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Well, six weeks after beginning his search, Canniff found what he was looking for — the World War One Trio of medals earned by his grandfather, which include the Victory medal and Service medal.
Canniff said the medals were acquired more than three decades ago by a collector living in Sudbury, who purchased them from a relative.
Ironically, when he contacted the collector — who has amassed about 2,000 war medals — Canniff learned his grandfather’s medals “were the very first ones he acquired.”
Since the collector has a strict rule about not selling his medals, Canniff said he had to work out a trade. So he searched on the Internet and found some medals for twice the value to make sure he solidified the deal.
Canniff said he was also able get his grandfather’s dog tags and a few buttons he had taken from the uniform of a German solider as part of the deal.
“That was a complete bonus,” he said.
Having acquired the letters and the medals, Canniff said, “it certainly completes the personal part of this piece of my family history.”
He wants to create a permanent display, noting he plans to search for an authentic First World War helmet and some badges from the First Battalion Expeditionary Force that his grandfather served with.
Canniff, who wasn’t born until nearly 20 years after his grandfather died in 1949, still can’t believe how this has all come together in a matter of months.
“This is truly a special gift and special memory I plan to keep alive in our family,” he said.

Paul Birch is teaming up with the Shepherd’s Way Inn in downtown Chatham to host a benefit dinner for a young Chatham girl whose leukemia is currently in remission.
He said a dinner is being held today from 4-8 p.m. and again on Feb. 6 at the same time. He said tickets are $10 for adults, $6 for kids 10 and under and children three and under eat for free.
Birch said the money raised is going to help with whatever costs Madison Chambers’ family has in helping her deal with this form of cancer.
“This is very, very close to my heart,” he said. “On July 8, 2009, I lost my brother to cancer. I know how tough it is.”
Birch said Madison is the daughter of Christie Chambers, a co-worker at One World Logistics, in Chatham.
“The reason we’re doing this is to try to help one of our own,” he said.

Students and staff at A.A. Wright Public School in Wallaceburg have come through for earthquake victims in Haiti.
Tracey VanDenBossche, a Grade 8 teacher at A.A. Wright Public School in Wallaceburg, in charge of O Ambassadors, said the in-school student group, along with the rest of her class, launched a fundraising campaign called Toonies for Haiti.
“We put out the word to parents . . . if everyone in the school — students and staff — donated a toonie, we would have $500,” she said.
VanDenBossche said the school raised $445 and the O Ambassadors kicked in the other $55 for other fundraising activities they had done to reach the $500 goal.
“It’s a pretty sizable contribution, I think, from our families,” she said, noting the school only has 220 students.
She said the money is going to Free The Children, the organization the O Ambassadors are affiliated with.
VanDenBossche said she spoke with the Free The Children co-ordinator in Toronto and learned that if they specify they want their donations to go to medical supplies, it will be multiplied by 10 by World Medical Relief, which has been a partner with Free the Children for several years.
She is thrilled the donation will now purchase $5,000 worth of medical supplies.