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Help with army records/medal cards if possible please?


ALH29

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I am trying to de-code my Great-Grandfather's army records/medal cards. Could someone help please? He was part of the 2nd Connaught Rangers. Reg No 10499.

 

Army No: 7143375

Name: William Byrne

Attestation: 24/08/1912 (Age 17y 11m)

Place: Dublin

Discharge: 20/09/1919  at Cork

IN PARTICULAR I'D LIKE TO FIND OUT WHAT THE FOLLOWING CODES MEAN:

Campaigns etc:

BEF 1914+1918

EE Force 1917+1918

MEF 1915+1916+1918

WD Oct 1914

GSW high sar 07/12/15

 

It states on the form that his conduct on discharge was 'PTE - bad'. What was deemed 'bad'?

 

Also, could somebody tell me what the following means please...?

1914 Star: Roll A/6 - Page 8

Victory Medal: Roll A102B - Page 93

British War Medal: As above (and also states Sec B 20/09/19)

Qualifying date 14/08/14

 

many thanks

 

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If you have a look at how to research a soldier on the Long Long Trail website, you will find some answers to your questions ,there is a section on medal cards as well as details on order of battles for regiments.

Michelle 

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Any chance of a link to the documents?

BEF - British Expeditionary Force, EEF - Egyptian Expeditionary Force, MEF - Mediterranean Expeditionary Force and WD - ? He received a gun shot wound (GSW) on the 7th December 1915 (high sar?) 

The references to the medals are page and ledger numbers where the information is stored, these are available to view with a subscription on ancestry.co.uk here and here, Sec B I believe relates to Section B Army Reserve. The qualifying date is the date he landed in a theatre of war.

 

J

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He was with the 2nd Bn (5th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Division) when they landed at Boulogne on 14/08/1914. There are lots of posts about the 2nd Bn., and if you search for his number you will find him mentioned in a few posts. He was wounded in October 1914, possibly at First Ypres. Reported as hospitalised by the Times edition of 04/12/14 and in "3rd Western General Hospital, Cardiff." in a list dated November 2nd.

 

The BEF, EEF, MEF and GSW 07/12/15 makes me think that after his recovery from wounds in October 1914 he was posted to the 5th Bn. Connaught Rangers (29th Brigade, 10th Division) who landed at Gallipoli 05/08/1915.

 

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/connaught-rangers/

 

Subsequently posted to the 1st Bn. Connaught Rangers (7th (Ferozepore) Brigade in 3rd (Lahore) Division) who were in Mesopotamia from January 1916 to April 1918 when they moved to Egypt.

 

So it would appear, regardless of his bad conduct, that he fought in three theaters of war with three Battalions of the Connaught Rangers and was wounded at least twice.

 

John

Edited by archangel9
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The 7143375 number would indicate that he signed up again after his 1919 discharge as that number is in the range for the Connaught's in the 1920 renumbering - 

 

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/new-british-army-numbers-issued-in-1920/

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Oh wow. That's fascinating. I shall look into this further. Thank you.

 

Apparently he was a really lovely gentleman, so the bad conduct thing was a bit of a shock. He transferred to a Warwick reg when he migrated to Birmingham in approx. 1930, and his conduct was reliable, honest and trustworthy. Something doesn't add up with bad conduct to me.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Me again. Now i've worked out where William Byrne would have served during WW1, could someone explain the discharge part of this record to me please? https://www.nam.ac.uk/soldiers-records/persons?ss={"q":"william byrne"} (the one with the 24/08/12 date). The columns from the date of discharge onwards, on the right hand side of the page.

 

Would the dates be the actual date he was discharged? 20/9/19 he was discharged from Sec B A Res in Cork. Then again he was discharged on 23/08/24 in Warwick. Or does it mean he signed up in Cork and was discharged in Warwick? And the Dub Fus bit at the end, if he was originally part of the Connaught Rangers, did he move to the Dublin Fusiliers at some point? I think I've also read paperwork that he was in a Warwickshire Reg at some point too.

 

I'm getting a bit confused with the dates, regiments and the places.

Edited by ALH29
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Most Regular infantrymen served a term of "seven and five" - seven years with the Colours and five with the Reserve. He therefore enlisted in August 1912, was transferred to the Reserve (Section B, the section that most Regulars joined) in 1919 and was finally discharged in 1924 having completed the twelve years for which he originally signed up.

 

Ron

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