Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

WWI - War Medal – Finding Owners Family


Hodie Non Cras

Recommended Posts

Perhaps the regiment should make sure it still has its medals? Of course it could be a duplicate issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

teritorial

war

sorry shouldn't have posted this, got all excited !!!!

Callaghan J 649 as mentioned in the Finding owners family , his medals appear to all be in the Berkshire Regiment museum, they should have details of the family wont they ???

star

victory

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i agree, they may also have family details, someone must have donated them to the museum?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If donated by the family they may~~~but they will probably not share those details,given in confidence by the donors.

they could have been donated by anyone however,not always the Family...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A little confused though why there seems to be two BWM to the same man, has anyone come across this before?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Duplicates are not common but do occur, this can be due to an error at the medal office, problems with mistakes on naming and duplicate / replacement issues when a medal is lost. I have a set where a chap was issued 2 full sets of medals to different units as he was discharged then re-enlisted with a different unit. But he returned the second set.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My uncle, killed at the second battle of the Marne 1918 had only one surviving cousin, besides myself. I advertised for information about his medals and his cousin, now deceased, informed me that they, along with his death plaque had all been sold several years ago in order to provide "booze" money. Absolutely gutted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Message received from the Berkshire Regiment Museum today :

"Pte J Callaghan was from Wokingham and was in H Coy 2 Section before the war. He volunteered for overseas service and joined the 1st/4th Royal Berks.

We have his four medals ie 1914/15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal and Territorial Forces Efficiency Medal. We have checked and the originals are still in our store."

I would surgest posting a picture of the name rank number engraved on the medal, we should be able to work out if it is correctly engraved or possibly re - named.

I have heard stories of soldiers who sold / parted with there medals and then later bought others and had them re - named so they could wear them, i'm sure other forum members could tell you of simular stories.

Or as previously stated J Callaghan may have had two issued.

Get a picture on and we can go from there.

At least we know he was from Wokingham so maybe a starting point to look for the family.

Let me know your thoughts chaps.

Regards

Brett

SORRY BAD DISLEXIA TODAY AND NO SPELL CHECK ON THIS PC ! ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

star

war

victory

Teritorial medal

The regiment seems to have all his medals ???? all four

Yes I went to the Regt Museum and looked at his medals and no question their all there. BUT, how is it I have his British War Medal in a box on my table? I'll ask the museum if they can check to see if the War Medal is a replacement as I understand they did issue replacements and they had special replacement markings on them. I am getting closer to the who, what, when, and where, now I need to figure out "why". Thanks for your continuing help. Tom
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Message received from the Berkshire Regiment Museum today :

"Pte J Callaghan was from Wokingham and was in H Coy 2 Section before the war. He volunteered for overseas service and joined the 1st/4th Royal Berks.

We have his four medals ie 1914/15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal and Territorial Forces Efficiency Medal. We have checked and the originals are still in our store."

I would surgest posting a picture of the name rank number engraved on the medal, we should be able to work out if it is correctly engraved or possibly re - named.

I have heard stories of soldiers who sold / parted with there medals and then later bought others and had them re - named so they could wear them, i'm sure other forum members could tell you of simular stories.

Or as previously stated J Callaghan may have had two issued.

Get a picture on and we can go from there.

At least we know he was from Wokingham so maybe a starting point to look for the family.

Let me know your thoughts chaps.

Regards

Brett

SORRY BAD DISLEXIA TODAY AND NO SPELL CHECK ON THIS PC ! ;)

Fantastic info Brett, thank you. I'd love to post a picture but I'm sure it wouldn't be of any value because most of the inscription is filed off except for the bits that I posted originally which had just info for it to be identified. They say the "originals are still in the store" so maybe I have a duplicate. Am I just chasing my tail here? What do you think. This chap was also in the RAF. What part of the UK is Wokingham in? Tom
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe Wokingham is near Berkshire so his local regiment i think. You say its filed off ? in what context?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe Wokingham is near Berkshire

It's in Berkshire. East Berkshire though - not the nice part. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also and I stand to be corrected, the RAF was not called the RAF until 1918 previously being the Royal Flying Corps so could this be his year of transfer to the RAF?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

most of the inscription is filed off except for the bits that I posted originally which had just info for it to be identified.

I'd say you have an original, and the museum has the replacements. The erasure is common where a medal has been sold, especially if it was sold to someone who needed a replacement for his own, or where the seller didn't want it to be known that he'd sold his medal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes the Medals would have been issued against the unit he was with at the end of the war which was then the RAF Callaghan did not get a 6 figure TF number as far as we are aware and hence would have transferred to the RFC before 1917. He does not appear on any of the Royal Berks medal rolls. I have no knowledge as to who donated the medals to the museum but I doubt we would release the information anyway.

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...