A man who recently moved to the Eastern Bay has been left destitute by a burglary that cost him everything but the clothes on his back.

Sometime in the past month, John Coppell’s belongings were stolen from a property on State Highway 30 near Te Teko which he intended to move into.

Thieves took boxes of his belongings that were yet to be unpacked and stole effectively everything he owned, including all his clothes, sentimental family mementos and his father’s war medals.

Mr Coppell was with his father the day he last wore his medals on Anzac Day, 1973.

Mervyn Davis Coppell died six months later, when his son was just eight years old.

Mr Coppell said the medals were a taonga that were treasured by his family. They were meant to go to his niece one day.

“Now I’ve got to tell her sorry, 'someone’s taken them'.

“I don’t even know what to say.”

His father enlisted in the artillery regiment of the army and served in World War II before being discharged in 1945 at the rank of lance bombardier.

He was awarded the Defence Medal, the War Medal 1939-1945 and the New Zealand War Service Medal.

“He was awarded those for his service to this country, and this is how people treat him.”

Mr Coppell said owing to his young age at the time of his father’s death, he did not know much about him, but the medals served as a connection to him.

They were worn annually by Mr Coppell, who himself served briefly in the Territorial Forces, and by his daughter on the 100^thanniversary of the Gallipoli campaign.

He'd had the medals restored and mounted by another World War II veteran in Christchurch, and had replicas mounted for all his nieces.

The original set and one set of replicas were in a box stolen in Mr Coppell’s absence.

There was a delay of about three weeks before Mr Coppell arrived in the Eastern Bay after his belongings were moved onto the property near Te Teko.

He thought it was possible the thieves did not know what they were stealing, given they were boxed up, but he hoped that they would be inclined to return his belongings once they realised they had little monetary value.

Other stolen items that were precious to Mr Coppell include a clay dragon handcrafted and gifted by his ex-wife, a marble chess set, family photos and a large number of tools and electronics he used for his model railway hobby.

He has now lost baby photos of his children – one in particular was framed with a ballet slipper alongside an image of the daughter who grew up to be a ballerina – and his grandparents.

“You could rip the photo out and keep the frame, but why? Imagine if I went through their home and did that,” he said.

“Oh, there’s a photo of your great-grandmother. I want that, I’ll take it.

“Your grandfather’s service medals? I’ll take those. You've got clothes? I’ve got none, I’ll take them for myself.

“It's just totally violating. That's a mild word.”

He said he was unemployed despite his efforts to find work and he did not have the means to recover from the burglary.

“They have destroyed my life. They have taken away all my memories of my childhood, of my daughters’ childhoods.”

Mr Coppell said the thieves had rifled through a toy box he used to store his precious items.

The box itself had survived the Christchurch earthquakes and Mr Coppell had dug through liquefaction to save it.

Now he estimated that everything he owned could fit in the box with room to spare.

Mr Coppell said he would like his belongings returned, anonymously if that was what it took, but he was not concerned about prosecution.

He urged anyone who knew where his belongings were to contact him anonymously on Facebook or drop them off somewhere such as the Te Teko dairy, where he could collect them.

If he had one message to the people who stole his belongings, it would be to man up, have some decency and return his taonga.

“It's a cliche isn’t it, but they’ve ripped my heart out. Actually, they've done more than that, they’ve taken my soul.

“They have robbed a whole family of our history.

“My father served his country; have some decency and return his medals. They're worth nothing to you.”