MM recipient KIA where please?

[Edmund]

Hello folks,

I was wondering if there was any way of determining the details of why this man received his MM please and where he fell? He was Claude Duffin 203578 2/5 Lancs Fusiliers, from Salford, died 8/9/1918 and buried Pernes British Cemetery .

regards Ed.

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Duffin LG Link

LG Header MMs

As the Gazette is dated October it may just be that the action for which he was awarded the MM resulted in his death {though there were no Official "Posthumous" awards until the 1970s}but most probably you are for an action around March~August 1918.the war Diaries may help..

HB

[Ken Lees]

203758 Lance Corporal Claude DUFFIN, 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers:

"For conspicuous bravery in operations against the enemy at Givenchy on 9th April, 1918. This N.C.O. was in command of his company's signallers. When his Company had suffered heavy officer casualties he showed skill and initiative in assisting to reorganise the Company. His Company Commander having been badly wounded gassed, he took him through heavy fire to a dugout, immediately rejoining his Company he advanced with them to reinforce the front. He maintained communication under the most advers circumstances."

For an account of this battle and the time of his death I would suggest obtaining a copy of "The Story of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division", by J.A. Coop. It will be available on inter-library loan in the UK and has been re-published by The Naval & Military Press.

Ken

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Result Ken!!

[sotonmate]

Ed

War Diary for 2/5 LF is at Kew under WO95/2923 and runs from Jan 1916 to Apr 1919.

Sotonmate

[Edmund]

Thanks folks, I will look into it further.

He was a 2nd cousin of me ma so not real close family but I like to investigate them all

I see his service record is on Ancestry so I will download that too might tell me a bit about him.

Ed.