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Remembered Today:

Medal Card help please


Kevino

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I have in posession a medal card of my Great uncle which i need help understanding and are hoping i can learn more from it

The card itself is very hard to see but i have posted the details below

Awardedthe VC

Name Corps Rank Reg No

TURRALL Worc R Pre 20512

T.G

Medal Roll Page Remarks

Victory L / 102 either (13 or B) 29 6413 class (7 or 2 )

British do do

15 star L / 5 B 4 ( / or 7 ) 5

Theatre of war first served in (1) France

Date of entry therein 2 . 9 . 15

The figures in brackets could be either and are not very legible

I hope someone may be able to help

Thanks

Kevin o

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The codes refer to the Medal roll page{s} that record the issue of his 1914~15 Star British War & Allied Victory Medals,these too are held @ the NA & can be referred to using the Codes.

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Here is the detail of his VC action

Yours aye

OxfordYeoman

Private Thomas George Turrall VC No. 20572

(3rd July 1916)

10th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment.

(at the storming of La Boisselle)

The strongly fortified village of La Boisselle, France was captured in a night attack, but with very heavy loss. All the senior officers were killed or wounded, and control was very difficult. Small parties, one of which was led by Lieutenant Jennings, pushed forward through the village, bombing, taking prisoners and picking up stragglers. Private Turrall, one of the Battalion bombers, joined the party; a hidden machine gun opened fire, and Private Turrall flung himself flat, escaping injury. All the rest of the party was killed, except Lieutenant Jennings, whose leg was shattered. Turrall dragged him to a shell hole, bandaging his leg with one of his puttees, and using the halve of his entrenching tool as a splint. They were bombed from behind a hedge by a party of Germans; Turrall shot two of them dead through a gap, and the others retired. Later in the day the Germans made an unsuccessful counter-attack on the village; the officer had fainted, so Turrall shammed dead successfully, although the Germans prodded him with their bayonets as they passed.

At night he managed to make his way back to the trenches, carrying the wounded officer. Lieutenant Jennings, who was very tall, had his arms round Turrall's neck, and the sentry at first was on the point of shooting him for not putting up his hands. The officer died within two hours, but not before he had time to dictate an account of Turrall's action, which merited and received the Victoria Cross.

post-10195-1145009242.jpg

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Thomas George Turrall V.C. was born in Birmingham on 5th July 1885. He won his VC at the age of 30. He died on the 21st February 1964, Birmingham and is buried at the Robin Hood Cemetery, Solihull. His VC is on display at the Worcestershire Regiment Museum, Worcester.

Thomas George Turrall V.C. gravestone at Robin Hood Cemetery, Solihull

post-10195-1145009516.jpg

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The Gallaghers VC Card for Pte Turrell VC

post-6536-1145018077.jpg

From VCs of the Somme, by Gerald Gliddon. Gliddon Books, 1991.

Steve

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A second version of Pte. Turrell's VC action from an earlier point.

post-6536-1145018904.jpg

Steve.

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Thomas Turrell was presented with his VC by the King at Buckingham Palace on 30th December 1916:

post-6536-1145019518.jpg

There is also a picture of him shortly before his death, wearing his medals and sitting in front of a framed picture - the same one OxfordYeoman posted.

He attended Dixon School, and trained to be a decorator. He joined the Worcesters in 1915 when he was 30 years old.

Steve.

P.S. The "Class 7 or 2" will be Class Z Army Reserve, the Reserve to which most War Time volunteers went onto in early 1919. They were liable for recall, but were not recalled, of course. The 19th (Western) Division went overseas in July 1915. Thomas Turrell would have gone overseas on 2nd September 1915 just in time to join the 19th Worcesters before the battle of Loos on the 25th September 1915. He would possibly have served for a short while in the UK with one of the 12th or 13th Reserve Battalions. Alternatively, he could have been with the small amount of men left behind of the 10th Battalion when the battalion went overseas.

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