RFA Medal Card Help

[timsanders]

Would someone be able to help me read this medal card?

 

It's the first RFA man I've researched and there a number of terms/codes I'm unfamiliar with.

 

Many thanks in advance

 

[rflory]

William Cooper, Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, No. 73680

Data under 15 Star. British War Medal and Victory Medal indicates the Roll on which the awards are listed and the page number

He was awarded the India General Service Medal with clasp Afghanistan NW Frontier on 28 July 1922.

First went overseas to the Balkans on 28 September 1915

[timsanders]

16 hours ago, rflory said:

William Cooper, Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, No. 73680

Data under 15 Star. British War Medal and Victory Medal indicates the Roll on which the awards are listed and the page number

He was awarded the India General Service Medal with clasp Afghanistan NW Frontier on 28 July 1922.

First went overseas to the Balkans on 28 September 1915

 

Many thanks.

 

Luckily his service record is intact. What I'm I looking for by way of identifying his battery/brigade?

[MaxD]

As you can see, the area of the record that has that info is only about half readable! If you look at his Military History Sheet, you can see the sequence of theatres of war he served in.  The way to make sense of it (although not all is readable) is to take the date periods in each theatre and then look through all the other sheets finding entries that conform to those date periods.  This is a starter:

First postings are reserve Brigades in UK.

 Overseas 9 15 to C Battery 66 Brigade in 13 Division in Gallipoli to Dec 15

The 3 1916 entries end with what could be RA Depot Ferozepore (India) so reflect his first India postings

6 17 is a posting to a Divisional Ammunition Column in India (it looks like 14th but isn't, they were in France and he is in India)

The 1918 entries look like India again

In May 1919 he is in 16 Brigade in Rawalpindi 

In Oct 19 he passes through Deolali in his way home to demob in 1920

 

The letter referring to the 1908 GSM says he served on the frontier with  90 Battery 16 Brigade.

 

Hope that helps to begin with.

 

Max

 

[timsanders]

11 minutes ago, MaxD said:

As you can see, the area of the record that has that info is only about half readable! If you look at his Military History Sheet, you can see the sequence of theatres of war he served in.  The way to make sense of it (although not all is readable) is to take the date periods in each theatre and then look through all the other sheets finding entries that conform to those date periods.  This is a starter:

First postings are reserve Brigades in UK.

 Overseas 9 15 to C Battery 66 Brigade in 13 Division in Gallipoli to Dec 15

The 3 1916 entries end with what could be RA Depot Ferozepore (India) so reflect his first India postings

6 17 is a posting to a Divisional Ammunition Column in India (it looks like 14th but isn't, they were in France and he is in India)

The 1918 entries look like India again

In May 1919 he is in 16 Brigade in Rawalpindi 

In Oct 19 he passes through Deolali in his way home to demob in 1920

 

The letter referring to the 1908 GSM says he served on the frontier with  90 Battery 16 Brigade.

 

Hope that helps to begin with.

 

Max

 

 

Max - thank you so much. Your reading and interpretation is incredible! 

[MaxD]

Its the new specs!

 

Looking for additional info.  There is a war diary for 66 Brigade at Gallipoli http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4557454

which unusually has separate diaries for the HQ and the batteries.  It ends in January 1916 with the arrival of the brigade in Egypt.  That nicely covers his period in the Mediterranean Force.

The next diary for 66 Brigade http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/490ae96d82f94f7b992c17d92837efe8

starts in February 1916.  If we look at his postings in the 1916 period, above the entry for Ferozepore on 26 August 1916, one can see 66 Bde which I believe can be taken as posted from 66 Bde to India.  Thus I'd suggest he stayed with 66 Bde until India.

 

Apart from the 1919 posting to 90 Bty 16 Bde, the India postings defy interpretation.  However, there would in any case be no war diaries for that area so I fear that his doings are unknown.  Alll his record shows is that he was in India 8/16 to 10/17 then 10/17 to 5/18 in Mesopotamia again and back to India for effectively the rest of his service.  It may be that someone could come up with a Gunner unit that followed that later India-Iraq-India path.

 

Whatever, reading the 66 Bde diaries should bring you a bit more of his story.

 

Max