Why wear wound stripes?

[David B]

Probably depends upon the severity of the flesh wound, i.e. did he have to go to a CCS to have it attended to. Gassing also was worth a wound stripe. MY uncle was wounded twice and gasses once

but I suspect that one of the wounds was not severe enough to warrant a stripe as his record only shows 2 wound stripes.

[afightinglife]

Hi David,

The short answer is I don't know (re severity/having to have his wound attended to). He was definitely evacuated and spent a month in hospital.

My understanding is this was for his shell shock and sprained ankles (as surely you're no good to the battalion if you can't walk), and that a slight wound would be incidental? (similar to nowadays when you have a primary and secondary diagnosis for insurance purposes)

Which returns to the point "when is a wound a wound?" especially if there are multiple factors - does the skin have to be broken by a projectile or other FB, for example. Or is it more vague like: a wound is any physical injury that renders the soldier unfit for duty. I imagine the army could of had rules or a table that categorises/classifies wound severity?

To put in my context, I'm writing a book and want to be clear that this incident "earned" a wound stripe and for which element of the 3 factors (sprain, shellshock, slight GSW, or all three) it was merited.

My understanding of shell shock (especially in the context of 1915) that it was not viewed as a "wounding" as such. Very happy to be corrected!

Cheers,S.

[ss002d6252]

The criteria are listed here

http://1914-1918.net/research/index.php/find-your-soldier/interpreting-photographs-of-men-in-ww1-uniform/wound-stripes/

[spof]

The criteria are listed here

http://1914-1918.net.../wound-stripes/

From the link

that the term ‘wounded’ refers only to those officers and soldiers whose names have appeared, or may hereafter appear, in the Casualty Lists as ‘wounded’.

The 12th Rifle Brigade war diary very helpfully has a full list of casuatly reports sent to the AG for compiling the casualty lists and there are several men listed as "Wounded (Shell Shock)" starting in Feb 1916.

[David B]

SS002, SPOF,

couldn't be clearer then, thanks for the link. Luckily for my uncle the wounds didn't appear to affect him in later life, he was a dairy farmer and lived until he was 85.

[Don]

Q.Would a soldier recieve a wound stripe from the effects of gas.

Gerry

[kenf48]

Q.Would a soldier recieve a wound stripe from the effects of gas.

Gerry

see and read link in post 28

Ken

[Don]

Thank you Ken for pointing out the post to me

Gerry

[pylon1357]

I have found this topic about the wound stripe to be most interesting as it is something I have never given much thought to. Silver War Badges yes, but not the wound stripe. I have the records for most of the men who's medals I have. Many were wounded but honestly, I do not recall any mention in their records of an issue of a wound stripe. I have seen the notation of the Silver War Badge being issued however. These were to the few men who's wounds were severe enough to result in their discharge.

I am now going to revisit the records and see what I can find. Quite an interesting topic for sure.

[afightinglife]

To expand on SPOF's definition, according to the Director General Medical Services, British Expeditionary Force 1916,

"A 'wound' means an injury caused by or arising from the enemy, and includes injuries by rifle and gunfire, by bombs, bayonet, liquid fire,etc. Shock to the nervous system caused by bursting shell, and the effects of inhalation of poisonous gases, although producing no visible trauma, are to be regarded as wounds."

The recipient would then be entered on the Casualty list and would be entitled to the wound stripe.

Thanks for the detailed response MrSwan, that helps my understanding. I did read the links referred to by SPOF and SS002 prior to posting in this thread but was thrown by the Army Council Instruction No. 2075 dated 3 November 1916 (a year after my g grandfather's particular incident) regarding shell shock and gassing being considered wounds. I assume now that instruction and your definition back dates to 1914 also.

[PhilB]

The wound stripe probably also had the positive effect of giving the impression that being wounded was not the end of the world as so many reappeared. In fact, a wound stripe after a minor wound might have been looked at as a good thing! Of course, the ones who were severely wounded didn`t reappear but they weren`t as visible.