Memorial Plaques

[Dave_59]

Were influenza victims awarded death plaques if they were still in service and in the theatre of war when they died?

Thanks

Dave

[leigh]

I might be totaly wrong here Dave and I await corrections , But as far as I have gleened from discussions here the war offically ended some time in 1921 (20?).

Assuming that you served overseas in that period then you got a medal entitlement etc regardless of cause of death. I also guess that this includes plaque.

Leigh.

[Terry Denham]

As RT will tell us, plaques were awarded regardless of cause of death or location of death and continued to be awarded for death after the official end of the war on 31.08.21.

[Terry]

Hi Dave,

Last year I mentioned a plaque in my collection which had been given to the family of a young Canadian conscript who died in the epidemic of 1918. He never left Canada, so he received no service medals. He was unmarried and his mother had already died, so no memorial cross. The plaque was the only recognition his family received for his service.

[Dave_59]

Do you still find these sets interesting (flu victims), as they are not 'casualties'.

dave

[Terry]

Dave,

They don't have the "glamour" of the awards of someone who assaulted Vimy Ridge, or the poor devil who walked to his death on 1 July,1916, but in the case of the single plaque I mentioned earlier it had several attractive features. First, it must be relatively rare to have a situation where the only recognition the guy received was the plaque. Second, he was from my home province, and he is buried nearby. I was able to do a bit of research through local newspapers,etc.

Obviously, I normally collect casualty groups to men who actually were killed in action or died of wounds.

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

You only had to be in the Army/Navy/RAF during the prescribed period and die for your next of kin to receive the death plaque and scroll, regardless of whether you were shot, blown up or died of flu, or never left the Shot.

[Guest Pete Wood]

You only had to be in the Army/Navy/RAF during the prescribed period and die for your next of kin to receive the death plaque and scroll, regardless of whether you were shot, blown up or died of flu, or never left the Shot.

Unless your medals (and therefore plaque) were forfeit, for some reason

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

And a certain 14/15 Star?

I don't think we will ever know whether this was an isolated case as the records are incomplete - perhaps there is a plaque out there somewhere yet to be discovered or being kept underwraps. Expert opinion to date has discounted certain issues to men from overseas, but slowly the puzzle is being unravelled - never say never is rather apt don't you think?

[Guest Simon Bull]

Terry Denham said

"plaques were awarded regardless of cause of death or location of death and continued to be awarded for death after the official end of the war on 31.08.21".

This interests me greatly because my Great Grandfather (Charles Bull, who served with the RAMC, but never went overseas) died in July 1922 from TB which must have been attributed to war service as my Great Grandmother received a War Widow's pension. He had been discharged as unfit during the War and was awarded a Silver War Badge.

Does this mean that he should have been awarded a death plaque? If so, how can I find out if an award was made? If an award was not made is there any ability to claim one now?

[Terry Denham]

Simon

I am sure that Teapots will give you chapter and verse on the late award of plaques.

There is no facility for obtaining a new genuine plaque now.

[Guest Pete Wood]

Simon, IF a doctor attributed the cause of death to any disease which was as a direct result of service, then his next of kin SHOULD have been awarded a plaque and scroll. This applies up to seven years after he was invalided out of the services or when the war ended (whichever was sooner).

So if he was discharged before July 1915, in your case, no plaque would be issued.

However, in many cases, the next of kin were not aware that they could get a plaque, and once a soldier was out of the army he was out of the loop. The War Office would certainly not chase this up. So unless the family knew the rules, chapter and verse, there is a good chance that a plaque was not issued.

No plaque records exist - not that I can find, anyway - so there is no way you can find out if a plaque was issued.

If the records survive, you will sometimes find evidence that the next of kin did apply for a plaque. It is worth looking.

While new plaques can no longer be sourced, the odd 'blank' plaque does turn up. The factory made a batch in 1930 when production ceased, so that these could be engraved. These blank plaques do turn up occasionally; the problem is they are rare, so very expensive. The alternative, which I do not condone in any way, is to deface a cast plaque by grinding out the name, and have it engraved; not nice.

[Guest Simon Bull]

Thanks Teapots - I shall do some research re date of discharge.

Simon Bull