INW Posted 9 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 May , 2020 A H CHEW MEDALS AND BADGES My cousins have scanned the medal areas from the main photograph and produced TIFF flies at 9600 DPI. These are to big to publish on the site so I have cropped them as tight as possible and resorted to JPG files and increased the contrast on the badges image. The upper badge does not seem to match anything in Iain Swinnerton's book. List from my left to right. 1. 1914 Star 2. British War 3. Victory with Mentioned in Dispatches 4. General Service? 5. WWII War Medal 6.? 7.? I can 'We Transfer' the TIFF files if anyone has forensic skills with photoshop. INW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 9 May , 2020 Share Posted 9 May , 2020 Old Contemptibles Association. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INW Posted 9 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 May , 2020 OLD COMTEMPTIBLES ASSOCIATION BADGE Thanks Gareth REF: Surrey and the Great War Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david murdoch Posted 9 May , 2020 Share Posted 9 May , 2020 21 minutes ago, INW said: OLD COMTEMPTIBLES ASSOCIATION BADGE Thanks Gareth REF: Surrey and the Great War Most likely - be something he would be proud of. His medals from his entitlements and rolls and worn in correct order. 1. 1914 Star with clasp. 2. British War Medal 3. Victory Medal with Mentioned in Dispatches emblem 4. General Service Medal with Iraq clasp 5. WWII War Medal 6 Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (with 21 years service) 7.Croix de Guerre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INW Posted 9 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 May , 2020 THE FOURTH MAN The original tiff file has been worked on in Camera Raw but this does not reveal the name on the lapel badge. I think 'Border Collie' has got medals 3 and 4 right. Thank you! INW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INW Posted 9 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 May , 2020 NEWSPAPER ADVERT This was the advert that lead to my Grandfather being persuaded to go to the dinner by his children and their partners. Ref: Birmingham Mail 6 August 1966. INW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INW Posted 9 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 May , 2020 THE ATTENDEES LIST AND PROGRAMME 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST TANK BATTLE ON 15th SEPTEMBER 1916 VETERAN'S DINNER 1916 - 1918 CAXTON HALL 15th SEPTEMBER 1966 Ref: TANK MUSEUM ARCHIVE, BOVINGTON. As requested. INW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 9 May , 2020 Share Posted 9 May , 2020 Curves, levels, desaturated again, inverted (black to white)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INW Posted 10 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 10 May , 2020 I sent the full TIFF file to Dai Balch and he worked on it again in Photoshop. Thanks Dai. I probably have to accept that this is the best we are going to get... two initials and a six letter surname perhaps? There are about 90 men on the attendance list. I guess there are about 50 with two initials. INW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 10 May , 2020 Share Posted 10 May , 2020 Well done to Gareth for identifying the Old Contemptibles badge. The list of attendees is fascinating and there are quite a few familiar names from D (4th) Bn, Re the fourth man, I wondered about C. E. Kessel which looks similar to the name badge - the medal records show this was Major Cyril Ernest Kessell of G (7th) Bn, but he went overseas in March 1915 so we can rule him out as the man in the photo isn't wearing the 1914-15 Star. This could be a long job! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 10 May , 2020 Share Posted 10 May , 2020 Thanks John. Badges are not normally my forte. What I find amazing is that I was actually alive when this event took place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 10 May , 2020 Share Posted 10 May , 2020 You and me both, Gareth. If only we could turn back the clock and head over there with a tape recorder. Mind you, I was pretty young at the time - though already interested in the First World War. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordercollie Posted 11 May , 2020 Share Posted 11 May , 2020 @INW I wonder if people on WW2Talk might be able to help you identify the fourth man. The India GSM 1936-39 might indicate that he was serving in India in September 1939. The sixth medal in the group appears to be the Africa Star but there is no clasp. That might help an expert in WW2 orbats to pinpoint the unit in which the man was serving in the early 1940s. Africa Star clasps were awarded to 8th Army, 1st Army and the North Africa 1942-43 clasp for those in 18th Army Group units. I think there was an RTR squadron that served in Eritrea and they would have qualified for the Africa Star but not for a clasp unless they subsequently moved to a formation qualifying for a clasp. The WW2 mid might also help narrow down his identity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INW Posted 11 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 11 May , 2020 (edited) THE FOURTH MAN'S MEDALS Border Collie has had another look at the scan of the Medal's and I summarise his cerebral detective work below. 1 WWI British War Medal 2 WWI Victory Medal 3 General Service Medal 1918 - 1962 4 India General Service Medal 1936 -39 5 WWII 1939 - 1945 Star Note: as worn by Captain Sir Tom 6 WWII Africa Star 7 WWII France and Germany Star 8 WWII Defence Medal 9 WWII War Medal with oak leaf for 'Mentioned In Dispatches Note: as worn by Captain Sir Tom (no MID but world wide fame). 10 Long Service and Good Conduct issued 1944 - 1959 INW Edited 20 May , 2020 by INW To comply with today's news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INW Posted 16 May , 2020 Author Share Posted 16 May , 2020 (edited) POSSIBLE FOURTH MAN Whilst having my post breakfast coffee I started going through the list of attendees of the Dinner. I have got from Allden to Cook. The only likely candidate so far is Gerald Harris Brooks. (note: two initials and a six letter surname). He does have a army career that extends to the WWII. Died in 1988. This is the medal card downloaded from Ancestry. I do not understand all the medal references but there seems to be one referenced ''clasp NWF 1935"; could that be North West Frontier? INW Edited 16 May , 2020 by INW typos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 16 May , 2020 Share Posted 16 May , 2020 (edited) 24 minutes ago, INW said: POSSIBLE FOURTH MAN I do not understand all the medal references but there seems to be one referenced ''clasp NWF 1935"; could that be North West Frontier? INW Yes, it would relate to the Second Mohmand campaign on the North West Frontier of 1935. ”In 1935 the Mohmands, influenced by the Haji of Turangzai and his three sons the Badshah Guls, were marauding in the plains. At the end of July about 2000 tribesmen were disrupting working parties repairing the Mohinand–Gandab road. The Government decided to send a sizeable punitive force against them, called the Mohmand Force or Mohforce. The force, mobilised by 17 August, included the Nowshera and Peshawar Brigades of the Indian Army, a section of the Royal Tank Corps, the 18th King Edward's Own Cavalry, and the 22nd Derajat Mountain Battery (Frontier Force), with air support from the Indian Wing commanded by Basil Embry.” Edited 16 May , 2020 by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 16 May , 2020 Share Posted 16 May , 2020 1 hour ago, INW said: POSSIBLE FOURTH MAN Whilst having my post breakfast coffee I started going through the list of attendees of the Dinner. I have got from Allden to Cook. The only likely candidate so far is Gerald Harris Brooks. (note: two initials and a six letter surname). He does have a army career that extends to the WWII. Died in 1988. This is the medal card downloaded from Ancestry. I do not understand all the medal references but there seems to be one referenced ''clasp NWF 1935"; could that be North West Frontier? INW Our man has the LS&GC which I didn't think was awarded to officers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 16 May , 2020 Share Posted 16 May , 2020 1 hour ago, Gareth Davies said: Our man has the LS&GC which I didn't think was awarded to officers. It is to officers commissioned from the ranks providing that they’ve already qualified, and bizarrely they can then claim a bar to it if they continue to serve long enough to qualify, i.e. it remains accumulative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 16 May , 2020 Share Posted 16 May , 2020 Isn't there a minimum qualifying period of service as an OR? And did Brooks serve as an OR? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 16 May , 2020 Share Posted 16 May , 2020 From the MIC it doesn't look as if he was an OR - however there's a photo here to compare: https://www.tankmuseum.org/museum-online/medals/recipient/B395 We need some facial recognition software... John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 16 May , 2020 Share Posted 16 May , 2020 I knew Brooks' name was familiar - he commanded F46 Fay in an attack in the Ypres Salient on August 22, 1917. He's the crew commander referred to in the account below (from the War History of F Battalion). This was the same attack where Fray Bentos was trapped in no man's land. Brooks had a distinguished career and the Tank Museum link above includes a list of his medals - however I'm not sure whether they match those worn by the officer in the photo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 16 May , 2020 Share Posted 16 May , 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Gareth Davies said: Isn't there a minimum qualifying period of service as an OR? And did Brooks serve as an OR? Yes, there is a minimum qualifying period of service as an OR, Gareth, but once that period is reached then the clock of reckonable service continues to tick regardless of the rank reached. It’s an oddity that still exists today. If the man with the LSGC did indeed become an officer, which seems quite likely given his apparent length of service that must have extended beyond 22-years for him to serve also in WW2, then it would be appropriate for him to wear the mix of medals seen. Edited 16 May , 2020 by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 16 May , 2020 Share Posted 16 May , 2020 This is the two side by side for comparison. I would say... I'm not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Davies Posted 16 May , 2020 Share Posted 16 May , 2020 13 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said: Yes, there is a minimum qualifying period of service as an OR, Gareth, but once that period is reached then the clock of reckonable service continues to tick regardless of the rank reached. It’s an oddity that still exists today. If the man with the LSGC did indeed become an officer, which seems quite likely given his apparent length of service that must have extended beyond 22-years for him to serve also in WW2, then it would be appropriate for him to wear the mix of medals seen. What was that minimum length of service as an OR? Looking at Brooks' MIC I don't see much service as an OR. I don't think it is Brooks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 16 May , 2020 Share Posted 16 May , 2020 31 minutes ago, johntaylor said: We need some facial recognition software. ...and better enhancement of the photo of the name badge. These guys could do it, but they're a bit pricey: Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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