nellahc18 Posted 2 May , 2015 Share Posted 2 May , 2015 My uncle Fred Mills served at Gallipoli. Family 'knowledge' says that he joined the Worcestershire Regiment in Birmingham. He was at Gallipoli and when the Regiment was decimated he was transferred to 'The Cornwalls'; when they in turn were destroyed he was sent to the Inniskillings. After repatriation from Gallipoli he went with them to Ireland. He is said to have reminisced about marching through the streets of Dublin guarding prisoners and being stoned by onlookers. I have a medal certificate for a Fred Mills. The information given on this is that he arrived in the Balkans on 27/07/1915. The only regiments given are R.Innes R. Pte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 2 May , 2015 Share Posted 2 May , 2015 What's his service number ? Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nellahc18 Posted 2 May , 2015 Author Share Posted 2 May , 2015 I will finish this topic here! A computer, or user, malfunction cut this off. R Innis. R Pte 6/12924 A.S.C L/Cpl ?/279651 Medals Victory RASC/101 197 page 20180 British same reference 15 Star RAPC/1C7 page 1110 theatre of War (2B) Balkans How can I find any more information about him? Can anyone help please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 2 May , 2015 Share Posted 2 May , 2015 According to the medal rolls he only served overseas with the 6th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and then transferred to the Army Service Corps on 27 Jan 1917. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin kenf48 Posted 2 May , 2015 Admin Share Posted 2 May , 2015 The war diary of the 6th Inniskilling Fusiliers is on Ancestry (TNA are yet to release it) and shows he embarked with the main body of the Battalion which arrived at Mudros Harbour on the 26th July, on the 27th July the Battalion disembarked the 1st reinforcement of 3 officers and 179 other ranks. On the 30th July the remainder sailed for Mitylen and from there they transhipped to Gallipoli landing on C Beach (Suvla Bay) under shrapnel fire on the 7th August 1918. As always there is probably a grain of truth in the family story, though without a service record it's impossible to say with certainty. However looking at the surviving records it does seem a draft of men, some from Birmingham, others from London were posted to the Inniskilling Fusiliers Depot at Omagh on or around the 2nd September 1914, some eventually went to the 6th Battalion while others ended up in the 2nd Battalion. Pte Albert Beddows 12910 enlisted in Birmingham and was posted to the 6th Bn. R.Innsk.Fusiliers, he died of wounds on a hospital ship and his death was reported in the Birmingham Daily Post on the 4th October 1915. The obituary noted he was from Handsworth and joined the regiment 'a year ago'. Similarly, Pte 12928 Frederick Stacey was from London and was posted to the 2nd Battalion his entry in Soldiers Died in the Great War (SDGW) shows he was formerly 12986 of the DCLI. So there is evidence of at least one other man from the DCLI ending up in the R. Innsk. Fus. in September 1914. It is therefore quite possible Pte Mills enlisted in Birmingham early on in August 1914 to a local regiment, and in the general confusion and need to balance out the numbers he was posted on to the DCLI and from there to the R. Inniskilling Fusiliers this was not unusual at this stage of the war as the Army was trying to organise 'Kitchener's Army' or K1 or 'the first 100,000'. He was posted to the 6th Battalion remained with them, moving to Basingstoke in April 1915 from where his journey to Gallipoli began on the 11th July 1915. The Battalion was part of the 10th Irish Division see http://www.1914-1918.net/10div.htmwhich was evacuated from the Gallipoli on the 29th September 1915 and the following month moved to Salonika. Again without a record it's impossible to say where he went after Gallipoli but his transfer as noted above predates the Division moving to Egypt in August 1917 and participation in the Palestine campaign. Again that puts the family story a little out of kilter as the Battalion did not return to Dublin after Gallipoli (which is not to say he didn't). All you can say with certainty is that he was posted to the Motor Transport section of the ASC and was discharged from the ASC to the Class Z reserve on the 22nd June 1919. Without further research we can't say where he served with the ASC. As a novice the best place to start is the parent site the Long Long Trail http://www.1914-1918.netwhich will give you a good grounding in military terms, interpreting the card and so on. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nellahc18 Posted 3 May , 2015 Author Share Posted 3 May , 2015 Thanks very much Ken. I will try to follow a few of these leads up. Helen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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