War medals of Chief Petty Officer George Lawrence Cutts returned to family in Tamworth

The soldier's granddaughter, great granddaughter and great, great grandson were there for the special moment, which has been a long time coming and, until recently, seemed as if it never would arrive.

Granddaughter, Kristin Russell, said it was overwhelming.

"It's just a relief we could get them back and give them to my father and his sister, and know that they're back in the family," she said.

"It means a lot to soldiers' families. My grandfather spent very little time with my father and my aunt growing up because he was in the Navy for 22 years.

"He would come home rarely, especially during the war, so when he came home and he was given these medals, that to him didn't explain exactly everything he had done, but when he marched on ANZAC day he was very proud he had those medals."

She said her father, now 84, would be the person most thankful to see the medals returned.

While Ms Russell said her grandfather - who had British parents but lived in India until the age of 16 - never spoke about the war, and was largely a quiet and reserved man, but he would always get excited for ANZAC Day.

She said he would take great pride in being part of the march, and would enjoy going to the RSL with fellow veterans afterwards, recalling that her grandmother always used to joke about how he would be home late for that one day a year.

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The medals were stolen in 1982, and while a police report was filed at the time, there was very little movement on the case until the past few years, when great granddaughter Tiarne Russell mentioned the case in passing to a Tamworth officer.

With more hope than expectation, she mentioned the theft of Mr Cutts' medals from his home in Willoughby all that time ago, and Constable Taylor Bryant was more than happy to help.

After a long process, which involved constant communication with police in Sydney and Western Australia, a search warrant was put out for a house in Perth.

Constable Bryant said she felt inspired to help the family from the first moment she heard about it, and took her own sense of pride in being part of the process to bring the medals back.

"When I had the conversation it pulled at the heartstrings and I really wanted to do something for this family because I know it means the world to them, these medals," she said.

"I'm proud of all the team work and it was a great result, the medals are with the family, they're where they should be."

The family expressed their thanks for Constable Bryant's efforts, along with Senior Constable Andrew Wainwright, who took over the case while his colleague was away.

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