PRIVATE Alwyn Melville Craig's story is serendipitous in the truest sense of the word.
For three decades the returned soldier wandered Newcastle's streets. Nobody knew his real name.
Complete strangers wrapped around the man they knew as 'Chris' or 'Old Pete', offering small acts of kindness until an extraordinary chain of events unravelled in just the right way, at just the right time.
More than half a century since he last saw his mates from Vietnam, Mr Craig's military service was recognised on Thursday with the presentation of his nine medals and five clasps at Newcastle City Hall in front of a family he'd been lost to for years.
A small smile, a quiet chuckle or a knowing look are small but significant signs of change for Alwyn's brother Harold, who has helped him settle in to his one-bedroom flat in Newcastle East over the last several months.
"I get pretty emotional, it wrecks me totally," Harold said.
"Sometimes I just want to give him a big hug like he's a baby or something, give him a big cuddle.
"I give him a big hug every now and then and he does like it, he does acknowledge it, not always but most of the time."
The fact Mr Craig was able to attend the medal presentation, surrounded by his comrades from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), dignitaries and the owners of the Newcastle French Bread House on Hunter Street who kept his belly full for years is a testament to just how far he has come.
Mr Craig's transport division mates Alf Lamb and Steve Smith presented him with his medals.
The Digger, who they knew as 'Shorty', grew up in Wollongong and was among 19,000 young Australians whose names were drawn in the National Service birthday ballot and sent to war in Vietnam in 1969.
Barry Francis first met Shorty in 1968 in Townsville, he was Mr Craig's platoon medic and went with him whenever they "went bush".
"Several of us over previous years have tried to find Shorty without luck, but we got a bit of a message through the grapevine, through the 6RAR Association recently that he was found and the way he was found was quite phenomenal," Mr Francis said.
"I'm sure you all know that story, but we're just delighted that he's been found, being looked after and now getting what he deserves as a war veteran of this country."
Once he completed military training with A Company in Townsville, Mr Craig served as a driver with Support Company (Transport) with 6RAR before returning to Australia in May 1970 where he enlisted with the regular army for another four years of service.
When the time came to adjust back into civilian life, Mr Craig found himself faced with a battle of an entirely different kind.
Like many Vietnam veterans, he was haunted by mental health challenges linked to his service, one of many men who came back to a country that did not recognise them as servicemen.
Newcastle lord mayor Ross Kerridge said the day was one of sadness, but also of joy.
"War tears people apart, it tears them apart physically, it tears them apart mentally, and not just people, war tears communities apart," he said.
"To everything there is a season, there's a time of war, a time of peace ... a time to heal, and there must be a time to heal.
"It's such a great story, and it epitomises what is very best about our community, coming together, helping each other out and being a community that's strong, resilient, taking on the challenges of life and getting through them."
When he returned from war, Mr Craig withdrew from family and friends, spending much of the 1970s and '80s drifting between towns and cities across the state.
In April 1994, his brother Harold got a call to tell him Alwyn had left the key in the door of his Corrimal flat and shot through.
An article in the Newcastle Herald late last year triggered an extraordinary series of events that resulted in the 76-year-old being reunited with his lost family in Wollongong.
It put an end to a decades-long search by the 6RAR Association and his loved ones for 'Uncle Ally'.
His niece Sandy Guido said she still remembers the day 'Pete' was found.
"We were all yelling, 'His name's not Pete!'," Ms Guido said.
"It was like, 'Really?' This many people knew about him and we for all these years haven't known he was here.
"We're all very thankful to have him back in our lives and especially grateful to all the people over the last 30 years who have looked out for our much-loved family member Uncle Ally.
"We are eternally grateful to you people for showing our uncle compassion."
City Sleep Safe director John Cross is one of many who were able to help Alwyn, but the help he gave went above and beyond the port-of-call.
Mr Cross said seeing Mr Craig receive his medals and clasps was "the answer to prayer".
"I'm a Christian and I think the reason for the success with Alwyn has been a Christian life and the help that God has given us," he said.
"In the bible us Christians tend to go by three words, 'Love thy neighbour' and that love isn't a feeling thing, it's a doing thing.
"He's a result of that doing."
In a room full of kind strangers, comrades and those given a second chance to connect, the ceremony was just recognition of years of service from a man whose name, now known, none will soon forget.
