Was medal claimed or forfeited?

[pgis]

Hi all,

I am aware that this thread may be off-topic, but I don't know for certain.

My Grandfather enlisted in Canada on 24th September, 1916 and arrived in England on 14th May 1917.He was assigned to the Canadian Forestry Corps and remained in it(in England and Scotland) until the end of the war. He was never posted to France. He returned to Canada in Oct 1919 and was de-mobbed.

I am told that he would have been entitled to the British War medal. I have his Canadian Army service record and understand that his medal card entitlement details should be included, but they are not.

Can any one confirm that he would have been entitled to this medal, and can any one advise me how I can find out if the medal was claimed or not.

His name was Joseph E(ligah) Seeley and his number was 1042154

Thanks.

Paul.

[spof]

Paul

From the Long Long Trail website

essentially the requirement was that a member of the fighting forces had to leave his native shore in any part of the British Empire while on service

http://www.1914-1918.net/soldiers/themedals.html

So a Canadian going to Britain would be no different to a Briton going to India or Gibraltar i.e. he had gone abroad as part of his service even if it wasn't to a theatre of war and thus qualified for the medal. I can't help with Canadian records but hopefully someone who knows about them will be along soon.

Glen

[centurion]

Paul

From the Long Long Trail website

essentially the requirement was that a member of the fighting forces had to leave his native shore in any part of the British Empire while on service

http://www.1914-1918.net/soldiers/themedals.html

So a Canadian going to Britain would be no different to a Briton going to India or Gibraltar i.e. he had gone abroad as part of his service even if it wasn't to a theatre of war and thus qualified for the medal. I can't help with Canadian records but hopefully someone who knows about them will be along soon.

Glen

And assuming that things worked the same way as in the UK he shouldn't have needed to claim it it should have been posted to him automatically, only officers needed to make a claim

[tullybrone]

Paul,

Are you aware of Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group (CEFSG) Forum.

You'll probably get a definitive reply there - appreciate some are members here as well.

Steve Y

[pgis]

Thank you guys for replying.

Glen, thanks for confirming he was entitled to the British War medal.

Centurian, he very quickly returned to GB(well, Republic of Ireland to be exact). Maybe this contributed to the absence of a medal card record in his service record details.

Steve, thanks for the heads up regarding the CEFSG. I will start a thread there and see how it goes.

Thanks again.

Paul.

[centurion]

Thank you guys for replying.

Glen, thanks for confirming he was entitled to the British War medal.

Centurian, he very quickly returned to GB(well, Republic of Ireland to be exact). Maybe this contributed to the absence of a medal card record in his service record details.

Should not affect the existence or otherwise of a medal card but could have affected delivery of the medal if his change of address had not been notified however since the Irish Free State came into existence in 1922 (and Eire in 1937) he should have received his medal long before then. Its possible that he got it but lost it (not something people made very much of there post WW1)