clark136 Posted 19 September , 2019 Share Posted 19 September , 2019 Hi everyone, It has been a very long while since I last posted on here, but i find myself having time again to do some family research. My great grandfather, Edgar John Waterfield (b. Tavistock 1883) served in the Essex Rgt, Labour corp and the Royal Army Ordnance Corp and I have found his medal roll (see attached). What I am confused about is what ODE stands for in the "Theatres of War in which Served". So the story goes, he was in the middle East (Palestine we believe) and he was in Alexandria for a bit and Nan always thought he was in france for a while as well... but we cant find anything that specifically places him in these places. If anyone has any ideas on what theatre ODE was i would be grateful to hear from you. Many thanks Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaySearching Posted 19 September , 2019 Share Posted 19 September , 2019 (edited) ODE is not the theater of war ODE on the medal roll is the initials of the clerk who checked the record Ray Edited 19 September , 2019 by RaySearching Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPT Posted 19 September , 2019 Share Posted 19 September , 2019 (edited) I'm not sure. Looking through the roll, there are a number of acronyms - ODE, OBW, OGB, OCW, OET, or else they have either a cross or date of entry. Unless the O is overseas and the other two letters the clerk's initials? Edited 19 September , 2019 by IPT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaySearching Posted 20 September , 2019 Share Posted 20 September , 2019 17 hours ago, IPT said: Unless the O is overseas and the other two letters the clerk's initials? Having browsed through a few medal rolls I think that IPTs suggestion makes sense and is probably correct as various medal roll entries' just show the O while others are followed by two initials Unless one of our forum pals knows differently Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acknown Posted 20 September , 2019 Share Posted 20 September , 2019 Not in here: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/records/abbreviations-in-world-war-one-medal-index-cards-unit.pdf. But I think it's not initials. I too have looked at other rolls and in some cases, 'O + [squiggled letters]' occurs, in others whilst most names are ticked or crossed, presumably at the whim of the checker, a few are marked 'O -------- [tick]'. Nothing on the corresponding MIC to indicate anything untoward. I think it may be an indication as to the status of the medal issue. Acknown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clark136 Posted 20 September , 2019 Author Share Posted 20 September , 2019 hi everyone, thanks so much for looking at this for me. i'm a little glad that I'm not the only one who couldnt find a definitive answer Would be always interested to hear if anyone does know the answer, but what you are saying about it being the clerks initials does make sense. initialled and ticked to say "yes, these have been issued". thanks Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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