Good Conduct Badges and Overseas Chevrons

[andrew pugh]

Good Afternoon

I would like ta ask a bit of a tricky question.I have a list of casualties who were killed between the 23/031918 and 24/03/1918. One of them i strongly believe to be my Gt Uncle.On the list that I have it describes the items that were found on the remains. It shows that the body had 2 wound stripes which he was entitled to, a Mons ribbon which he was not entitled to because he missed the cut off date by 10 days.However i have found an Army order which states that the ribbon was issued issued to some men by mistake. I believe its quit possible that this is what happened to him. The body also had 2 Good Conduct badges.He would not have been entitled to 2 because he attested on the 18/05/1914 as a Special Reservist of the Royal Fusiliers at Houslow, he landed in France on the 4/12/1914 and was in the trenched with the 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers by the 7/12/1918.The point i am trying to make is this; assuming it is my man he was killed on the 24/03/1918 and found in late September 1919 by the 182nd Labour Coy.Could they have mistaken the Good Conduct badges for Overseas Chevrons? Good Conduct awards are Chevrons not badges.I am still working on a project to present to the C W G C for identification at some point.

Here are a few facts.; The remains were found very close to where his battalion were on the 24/03/1918, he was found buried with a named casualty from his battalion, we have a photograph of him wearing 2 wound stripes, there is a possibility that he was given the Mons ribbon by mistake so they will have to work that one out when making a decision its a 50/50 thing on that one. but its the Good Conduct awards that i am concerned about. 22 casualties were found at 57c.I.32.c.8.0 which includes 4 Royal Fusiliers Sgt Rendell CTK 24th Royal Fusiliers an unknown Corporal and 2 unknown Royal Fusilier privates. These same 4 men are listed in the Battalion casualty list in the war diary, the same 4 were found at 57c.I.32.c.8.0 and the same 4 men are buried close to each other in Bancourt British Cemetery.His battalion was the 24th Battalion also known as the 2nd Sportsmen. the 24th Battalion lost only 1 Corporal that day Corporal SPTS Walter Glew I believe he is the unknown Corporal. I have already presented a case for him and i am awaiting a decision on him, is it just coincidence that these men show up in 3 different locations matching in number and rank. Anyway going back to the original question; could it be possible that Good Conduct badges be mistaken for Overseas chevrons by the recovery units.I look forward to your comments.

Regards

Andy         

[jay dubaya]

I’ll have a look at this post in depth later but I think it unlikely that GC chevrons would be confused with OS chevrons, that said there are plenty of what we see as glaringly obvious mistakes on the CoG reports that were missed at the time.

 

J

[Muerrisch]

Good Conduct Badges were called good conduct badges officially, and long service and good conduct stripes unofficially.

 

It is of course possible to mistake a GCB for an overseas chevron but they were worn on different arms, of different material, and very different sizes. Note also that the overseas awards were not promulgated until shortly before the death date, and the issues had a lot of catching up to do.

 

A dispassionate jury would probably not accept that the body is who you wish to identify .... too many hits against it.

[andrew pugh]

Hi Gent's

Sorry i'm a bit late in getting back to you.Thank you both for your reply's, very helpful.

Regards

Andy