Pat K Posted 29 October , 2009 Share Posted 29 October , 2009 Please be patient with me, I am sure the answer to this must have been given many times but I have not been able to find it. What is the significance of a prefix before a service number. In this case we are talking about Royal Munster Fusiliers and in particular my grandad. His service number was 6951 and he was severely wounded December 1916 France and discharged as a result in April 1917. His SWB roll entry gives his number as 3/6951. What is the significance of the "3/". Battalion number would be my guess but 3rd Bn RMF was a reserve battalion which did not serve in France. And if he was transferred from the reserve why doesn't his service number reflect the battalion transferred to? Or have I got this all completely wrong? Any help gratefully accepted Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Soul Posted 29 October , 2009 Share Posted 29 October , 2009 It means he was initially in the Special Reserve (3rd Battalion) and had been posted to one of the active service battalions overseas. Sometimes (not always, by any means) it is shown as a prefix to indicate his original terms of service. From my experience its use can be rather haphazard, although my (limited) experience suggests that Irish Regiments tended to use the notation more than others. Special Reserve is explained in detail at the link below; LLT - Reservists Best wishes. Andy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat K Posted 29 October , 2009 Author Share Posted 29 October , 2009 Thanks for the explanation Andy I was hoping to establish where he was fighting when he was wounded by researching the Bn diaries so this is bad news for me I suppose Kind regards Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Stewart Posted 30 October , 2009 Share Posted 30 October , 2009 Don't despair - his Medal Roll Sheet will show the battalion or battalions he served in while overseas. From that you can determine which was the last unit he served in overseas before evacuation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat K Posted 30 October , 2009 Author Share Posted 30 October , 2009 Thanks Graham I never realised that the ordinary medal rolls would give that sort of info, I always assumed that the SWB roll would give the most interesting info (Although thinking about it, of course I had nothing to base that view on ) Kind regards Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staunton Posted 26 September , 2010 Share Posted 26 September , 2010 Did SWB roll give date of enlistment ? (as that is one of its great bits of info) As noted BW & VM roll will give Bns served with for what is is worth serials 3/6948 and 3/6952 were KIA and appear in SDGW - both served with 2nd Bn which had the highest turnover/casualties in the regiment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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