WW1 Starred Occupations

[snoopysue]

Who would have been awarded the British and Victory medals?
Is there any inference from the medal card as to when John joined up, and how long he served?

[beardie]

i spent hours photocopying the typed west bromwich book of rememberance upstairs at west brom library for me records and a few years later they released a cd rom of the hand written book

anybody want look ups let me know!

malaria ! on the salonika front over 160,000 caught malaria , more men died of illness than were killed by the enemy!

a chap named andy johnson is the man for tipton men, i can pass on his email address if you pm me. just dont ask him when he publishing his book on tipton war dead

[beardie]

list of names on dudley memorial

http://www.wolverhamptonwarmemorials.or ... morial.htm

[apowell]

Hi,

Who would have been awarded the British and Victory medals?
Is there any inference from the medal card as to when John joined up, and how long he served?

The British & Victory medals were awarded to all servicemen who served overseas during the war.

This link explains about the different medals issued during the war and also shows pictures of them:
www.1914-1918.net/grandad/themedals.htm

The only information we can confirm fron John's Medal Index Card was that he went overseas from 1916 hence the award of the British & Victory Medals. If he had served overseas prior to 1916 it would state on his Medal Card the date and place he first was posted and also he would have been awarded the 1914/1915 Star Medal (check the link I gave for further information).

I'm afraid without his service or pension records it's going to be very difficult to obtain much more information but on the RE Medal Rolls it should give his enlistment date and maybe a little more information eg. Company served. The problem is these Medal rolls are all kept at the National Archives and not available to view online (to my knowledge anyway).

This link is for the Royal Engineers museum and it maybe an idea to email them for any advice (they hold an archive centre) and the website should give you some information on what the RE did during the First World War.
www.remuseum.org.uk/index.htm

Regards
Adrian

[apowell]

Hi again,

I've done another search and found this from the net:
The Railway and Waterways Companies RE
Although aircraft developed fast during the war, the mass supply of men, munitions, rations, forage and equipment depended heavily on the sea and on railways.
The Railway Construction Companies RE
The Light Railway Companies RE
The Inland Waterways and Docks Companies RE

I think John would have served within one of the above and looking my gut feeling is the The Inland Waterways and Docks Companies due to the large river supply networks used by us during the Mesopotamia Campaign.

I think John's Regiment Number may hold the clue to which Company he served with and also the RE Medal Roll Index may also inform you. I'm afraid I'm not able to work out the Regimental Number because it's beyond my knowledge (maybe the RE Museum could tell you).

I found this information on the Mesopotamia Campaign which is horrendous:
Like Gallipoli, conditions in Mesopotamia defy description. Extremes of temperature (120 degrees was common); arid desert and regular flooding; flies, mosquitoes and other vermin: all led to appalling levels of sickness and death through disease. Under these incredible conditions, units fell short of officers and men, and all too often the reinforcements were half-trained and ill-equipped. Medical arrangements were quite shocking, with wounded men spending up to two weeks on boats before reaching any kind of hospital. These factors, plus of course the unexpectedly determined Turkish resistance, contributed to high casualty rates.

11012 killed
3985 died of wounds
12678 died of sickness
13492 missing and prisoners (9000 at Kut)
51836 wounded
data from "Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire" (London: HMSO, 1920).

Regards
Adrian

[snoopysue]

Thanks Adrian
That really does help to put things in perspective.

I'm pretty sure now that my Gr grandfather was the way he was because of the war. My gran and gr uncle wouldn't have remembered much about him from before the war as they were born in 1914 and 1913 respectively.
Their descriptions of him were that he was strict, they weren't allowed to use local slang. He was hard working but drank a lot, kept their mother short of money (she cleaned for a local family without his knowledge). He was well respected in the community. Both my gran and gr uncle didn't like him, and I get the impression that when he died in 1928 she wasn't sad about it. I remember asking my gr uncle what religion his father had (when I first started researching the family) he answered "M and B" - I must have looked puzzled, he explained that he meant Mitchells and Butlers - the brewers! I know a lot of men were like this, but I get the impression that he was especially hard.
We were never as close to the other great aunts and uncles, so I never had any impression of how they felt about their father, but I do know he softened up on the birth of his first grandchild - she was given an expensive doll which my granmother always coveted, as she never had anything that fine.
Unfortunately all of John's children have now passed away, so there's no one left to ask.

Thanks again for your help