BONNET Bay resident Barrie Brewer has received a medal of appreciation from the French village of Bapaume for returning a rare picture of the Virgin Mary found by his uncle in the ruins of the town during World War I.

The crayon portrait of the Virgin Mary was found in 1917 by Lieutenant Hector Brewer in Bapaume which had been destroyed by German shelling.

Lieutenant Brewer was wounded twice during the Gallipoli campaign before fighting in France with the 54th Battalion, which was part of the 5th Australian Division.

He brought the picture back to Australia and it remained in the family for many years.

Lieutenant Brewer eventually married his French sweetheart, Dolly Pinney, who had followed him to Australia.

They had no children and the picture passed down to his nephew, Barrie Brewer.

Last year, Mr Brewer, 79, decided to return the picture to its original home in France and had it remounted to include a photo of his uncle Hector and the ruins at Bapaume.

The memory of the Australians who fought and died trying to liberate the town from the Germans is still honoured by the French who maintain the war graves of 112 Australians buried near the town.

The picture was recently returned and presented to the Mayor of Bapaume at a ceremony by a relation of Dolly Pinney, French resident Patrick Pinney. It now hangs in the Bapaume town hall (population 5000).

The medal of appreciation from the town was brought to Australia by relatives last month.

Mr Brewer said it was incredible that something so fragile as the portrait had survived so long and had been returned to its rightful home.

"The town would have been in ruins when my uncle found the picture and it would have only deteriorated in the weather and rain and been lost forever," he said.

Mr Brewer said the medal of appreciation will join the collection of his Uncle Hector's World War I medals.

The family connection with the World War I battlefields of France will be reinforced when Hector Brewer's great-great grandson, Tim, 15, and other members of the St Andrew's Cathedral School orchestra will perform at the cemeteries at Passchendaele and Ypres on Anzac Day.