The family of Canadian soldier Stefan Jankowski has been reunited with a military medal that vanished around the time of his death in 2011.
He was from Windsor, Ont., and served as a trooper with the Royal Canadian Dragoons. He received the honor for his service in Afghanistan.
Jankowski passed away at 25 after returning home and struggling with post-traumatic stress.
Kyle Scott is a retired soldier from Alberta who dedicates much of his time to locating lost or stolen medals. He aims to return them to their rightful families.
Scott found Jankowski’s medal in a collection and purchased it for about $400.
“We have a fairly small military and fairly small police force, so they’re not overly prolific in our society,” he told . “But at the end of the day, these things get out into the world in a lot of different ways.”
“They get handed down through generations to other family members. And then maybe they don’t care about them or it gets far enough down the line that the importance of those medals hasn’t been taught to the family … then that family member sells them or gives them away. They get stolen. They get lost when people move.”
After making an appeal on social media on Feb. 22, Scott said it took just 30 minutes for his Facebook followers to connect him with Jankowski’s family.
The first contact was with Jankowski’s daughter, Destiny, who was seven when her dad died two years after he returned from deployment.
“She was actually kind of shocked because she didn’t even know that her dad had earned a medal and apparently it went missing sometime around his funeral,” Scott said.
LISTEN | Daughter of veteran whose lost war medal was found speaks with Windsor Morning:
Windsor Morning7:41Windsor family reunited with war medal that had been missing since veteran died in 2011
Destiny Timothy-Jankowski told CBC Radio’s Windsor Morning host Amy Dodge Tuesday she broke down when she saw his post and they connected.
“It really just feels like a piece of him was coming home. It opened so many new connections and memories and being able to talk to my dad’s friends and hear these stories. I owe it all to Kyle, and I’m so thankful.”
Scott also served in Afghanistan at one point.
“It’s important to see that these get back to the families. It was important to track it down – [and] being that it was a less common last name helped straight away.”
The medal was returned during a ceremony on Sunday at the Legion hall on Marentette Avenue in Windsor.
The General Campaign Star for South-West Asia is given to members of the Canadian Forces and allied forces who work alongside them while deployed against an armed enemy.
It features a gold-colored, four-pointed star representing compass points built up from its back side.![]()
Destiny Timothy-Jankowski’s father died in 2011 after he returned from serving in Afghanistan. Around the same time his medal for that deployment went missing. (Amy Dodge/CBC)
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Timothy-Jankowski said that day was very emotional.
“Talking to the people my dad spoke to and being able to hear what he’s done for others and how he’s affected all these other people in the room really just took a big toll on me.”
She shared how much she learned about his character as both a soldier and person.“He really never gave up on anybody and he always wanted somebody else to do better than him. It’s just something I admire and aspire to be like – being able look at that with pride knowing he would be proud of me.”
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