Station 5, Cairo, Egypt

[Nigel Marshall]

My Great Uncle was a RE Signaller and served with the Army that went into Palestine. The family has a tenuous suggestion that he served at Station 5 in Cairo. This comes from a chance encounter over 40 years ago when my mother was a student nurse and one of her more elderly patients was an old gent with military bearing (even in bed). He, apparently, recognised my mother's surname (Kilkenny), and told her that one of his men was called Kilkenny and that he had died in Egypt. He said that they were at Station 5 at the same time.

Can anyone tell me if my mother's recollection of a patient's recollection might be accurate?

We have a fairly good set of postcards which he sent home from the Holy Land, and he seems to have had some fretime for sightseeing, but there is very little if anything said about his day to day work. The family believe he may have been a telephone engineer before the war. We have a photo of Uncle Syd in this RE uniform complete with shorts and blue/white brassards, as well as a group where it looks like he is wearing a York & Lancaster cap badge while with a group of RE sappers. Might this be his trade group course photo?

I know he died of pneumonia at Alexandria on 22:11:1918 and his lies buried at Cairo in the War Memorial Cemetery.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Nigel Marshall]

[Nigel Marshall]

Syd (marked with a X on his shoulder) wearing the uniform of the York & Lancaster Regiment prior to transferring to RE. anything that can be told from either of the above photos will be greatfully received.

Cheers,

Nigel

[The Inspector]

Hi Nigel

His MIC shows he also had a service number of 1110 with The R.E. Transferred to Class Z Entered Egypt 28.4.15.

Regards Barry

[Nigel Marshall]

Thanks Barry,

I should have said that I have downloaded his MIC. The Class Z transfer is a clerical mistake as he died in service in Alexandria, not getting chance to be transferred to the Reserve.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Nigel Marshall]

In the ongoing and very informative 'Postcards' thread it is stated that the presence of an white over blue brassard/armband on both arms marks the wearer out as a Despatch Rider, whereas the presence of only one (presumably worn on the right) is indicative of a signaller.

Can this be confirmed or elaborated upon at all please?

As can be seen in the first photo I posted in this thread my Great Uncles Syd wears two such brassards, and we (his family) had been previously unaware that he may have been a DR.

If it is the case, this must break the assumption that DRs were at least corporals (substantive, acting or local), mustn't it?

Thanks in advance,

Nigel