British Officer at Verdun

[chris basey]

I have just obtained the Service Record of a local man who was an officer in the King's Own Norfolk Yeomanry. He did service that included South Africa but had left the Army before the outbreak of WW1 and then re-enlisted on 21st September 1914.

His file is not very large so it's a question of 'reading between the lines' but in a letter to the War Office in February 1918 he says "since that date (28th March 1917) I have been out on the Verdun Front with the French Red Cross".

Is this type of service familiar to anyone? What did it involve?

By the time that letter was written in February 1919 he was out of the Army.

[charlesmessenger]

Chris

The French Red Cross was equivalent to the British Red Cross Society and was a voluntary organisation concerned with care of the sick and wounded. It sounds as though your man was invalided out of the Army, but still wanted to do his bit.

Charles M

[chris basey]

Charles

I think you are probably right - he went before a Medical Board in February 1917 and was recommended for six months light duties at home.

Interestingly, his wife was County Commandant for the BRC in Norfolk and also in charge of a local VAD Hospital so she may have influenced him to do something in France.

Kind regards