Captain John Wilson Reg No.1633

[wilson9068]

Good evening. I wondered if the forum members may be able to point me towards some further information about my Great Grandfather John Wilson. John served as a Sergeant in the Yorkshire Light Infantry before serving as a Lieutenant, and latterly a Captain in the 5th York and Lancaster Regiment. John was awarded the Military Cross and a bar to the Military Cross. These events are recorded in the Gazette dated 19/04/1918 page 4834 and the Gazette dated 13/09/1918 page 10908 respectively.

The gazette records the acts of gallantry that the medals were awarded for but I am unable however to find out where and during which battle the medals would have been earned. I have the medal card (attached) no WO372/22 but I cannot really decipher some of the code, nor do I know if this would reveal the information I am after.

If anyone is able to point me in the right direction I would be very grateful.

John Wilson Medal Card.docx

[rflory]

John Wilson's MC was awarded for an action at Ratetel (may be Retetel) on 6 March 1918 and his Bar to the MC was for an action at Cabaret de Saule on 11 April 1918 (Source: WO 389).

[Langdon]

As he won these awards in the Y&L you might like to access the War Diaries - downloadable at TNA - the only one I can find is 1/5th Battalion here (as 2/5 was disbanded in early 1918)

Mike

[wilson9068]

John Wilson's MC was awarded for an action at Ratetel (may be Retetel) on 6 March 1918 and his Bar to the MC was for an action at Cabaret de Saule on 11 April 1918 (Source: WO 389).

rflory

This is fantastic information. How did you find it? Is WO389 another Medal Card? Thank you so much.

[rflory]

WO 389 contains the DSO and MC Gazette Books at The National Archives. These books contain the London Gazette pages for awards of the DSO and MC and all those awards with citations are annotated with the date and place of the action.