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Remembered Today:

John McCormick, Gordon Highlanders, Great War


Mark Keenan

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Hi all.

I am researching and writing about my maternal grandfather who I never got to meet.

His name was John McCormick and he was born in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1900.

John (known as Jock) enlisted in the British forces in WW1 - he was not of age and, like many, must have lied about his age to join.

Later, after migrating to Australia, he joined the AIF 2/16 Battalion - I have his WWII records and he again used a fabricated date of birth; this time making himself younger to get below the 40 year upper limit.

The only evidence I have been able to find of his WW1 service is:
a) in a newspaper article in the West Australian in 1923 where he is listed as one of the ex-service passengers granted free passage and arriving at Fremantle.
b) in his WWII records where he has advised previous service of 5 months with the Gordon Highlanders

I have found a Victory\British War Medal Roll listing for a John McCormick showing Regtl numbers of S/40603 and S/26097 for time with the 1st Cameron Highlanders and 2nd Gordon Highlanders. I don't know for sure if this is my John but I've reached out to the Gordon Highlanders Museum to see if they can help me confirm.

He had two older brothers when he enlisted. I believe they both also signed up, though I have had difficulty finding them also. Names of Patrick and Peter are common in combination with McCormick.

John's father, also John, had passed away in 1913. His mother Mary was still alive when he went to war.

I don't know if I have tried everything possible to find him yet so, if you have any bright ideas of where I can look, please fire away. I am happy to try any options at this point.

Thanks

Mark

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Hi Mark and welcome to the forum.

If you click on the Long Long Trail tab at the top of the page there is a lot of information about researching

 

regards

Jon

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Hi Mark and welcome to the forum,

 

4 hours ago, Mark Keenan said:

b) in his WWII records where he has advised previous service of 5 months with the Gordon Highlanders

 

The question this was in response to "Have you previously served on active service? If so, where and in what arm" - but the words "on active service" have been crossed through.

549333207_EnlistmentpageWW2JohnMcCormicksourcedNAAcrop.jpg.0f305b7b17a0935874772c6a0e02482f.jpg

 

It would seem unlikely that he was concerned the authorities would link up the two sets of records and so potentially have his "true" date of birth, or that there was anything in the cause of his discharge that would raise questions over his fitness to serve.

 

I think you can therefore park the John McCormick you have found on the service medal rolls for now. To qualify for those medals you had to have seen service in a Theatre of War - home service only men didn't get them.

 

Hopefully you're aware that the vast majority of other ranks service records were destroyed in the blitz, so it can be very difficult to find out information about those who served  -  especially so for UK only servicemen who survived. You may be looking at the same situation with Patrick & Peter.

 

4 hours ago, Mark Keenan said:

His name was John McCormick and he was born in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1900.

 

4 hours ago, Mark Keenan said:

I have his WWII records and he again used a fabricated date of birth; this time making himself younger to get below the 40 year upper limit.

 

So are you saying he was born on or after the 1st January 1900 but before the 13th August 1900, the date given on his World War 2 enlistment. Might be helpful if you can give us his actual date of birth as potentially it might have some bearing on when he might have served. You believe he must have gone underage but potentially he could have seen UK service in 1918 or even gone out to a Theatre of War in the last few months or served in one of the Armys of Occupation in the immediate post-war period. However very unlikely he would have served in two units between going out and the armistice, so again tends to rule out the man you have found on the service medal roll. If he did manage to serve underage then it could have been under a different name as well as a fabricated date of birth - making it even harder for his family to track him down and reclaim him from the Army, if they were so minded - and many were.

 

The "five months" is a bit of a fly in the ointment. If that statement can be taken at face value I can think of scenarios that would account for it, but they would all be speculation in the absense of documentary evidence like his service record.

 

I would normally also recommend the British Newspaper Archive to see if any of the brothers gets a mention in the contemporary newspapers - if you are in the UK it's normally a free resource available at your local public library. Unfortunately a non-starter at the moment. Its normally bundled as part of a premium package or a bolt on to the main subscription genealogy sites.

 

Good luck with your search and let us know that true date of birth,

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

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Hi ,  Birth certificate on Scotland's People confirms date of  birth as 13th February 1900 .

On page 17 of his Australian records he actually gives his true d.o.b. 

One possible Gordon Highlander could be S/42399 John McCormick enlisted 11.01.1918 discharged 22.3.19  age 19 years .

Entitled to British War & Victory Medal and Silver War Badge No. B 244621 .

 

                                                                                                             Regards Steve.

 

Sorry , S/42399 name was McCormack . If anyone has access to the pension records on Fold .3. It would be interesting to see who the next of kin are.

Edited by esco
Error in original post .
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16 hours ago, jonbem said:

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum.

If you click on the Long Long Trail tab at the top of the page there is a lot of information about researching

 

regards

Jon

Thanks, Jon. I will do this also.

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12 hours ago, PRC said:

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum,

 

 

The question this was in response to "Have you previously served on active service? If so, where and in what arm" - but the words "on active service" have been crossed through.

549333207_EnlistmentpageWW2JohnMcCormicksourcedNAAcrop.jpg.0f305b7b17a0935874772c6a0e02482f.jpg

 

It would seem unlikely that he was concerned the authorities would link up the two sets of records and so potentially have his "true" date of birth, or that there was anything in the cause of his discharge that would raise questions over his fitness to serve.

 

I think you can therefore park the John McCormick you have found on the service medal rolls for now. To qualify for those medals you had to have seen service in a Theatre of War - home service only men didn't get them.

 

Hopefully you're aware that the vast majority of other ranks service records were destroyed in the blitz, so it can be very difficult to find out information about those who served  -  especially so for UK only servicemen who survived. You may be looking at the same situation with Patrick & Peter.

 

 

 

So are you saying he was born on or after the 1st January 1900 but before the 13th August 1900, the date given on his World War 2 enlistment. Might be helpful if you can give us his actual date of birth as potentially it might have some bearing on when he might have served. You believe he must have gone underage but potentially he could have seen UK service in 1918 or even gone out to a Theatre of War in the last few months or served in one of the Armys of Occupation in the immediate post-war period. However very unlikely he would have served in two units between going out and the armistice, so again tends to rule out the man you have found on the service medal roll. If he did manage to serve underage then it could have been under a different name as well as a fabricated date of birth - making it even harder for his family to track him down and reclaim him from the Army, if they were so minded - and many were.

 

The "five months" is a bit of a fly in the ointment. If that statement can be taken at face value I can think of scenarios that would account for it, but they would all be speculation in the absense of documentary evidence like his service record.

 

I would normally also recommend the British Newspaper Archive to see if any of the brothers gets a mention in the contemporary newspapers - if you are in the UK it's normally a free resource available at your local public library. Unfortunately a non-starter at the moment. Its normally bundled as part of a premium package or a bolt on to the main subscription genealogy sites.

 

Good luck with your search and let us know that true date of birth,

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

Thanks, Peter.

That's a very good point and I had not noted the active service being scratched out.

I am aware of the destruction of the records too.

His actual birthdate was 13 Feb 1900. I should have included this with my question.

I can access the BNA via our state library here in Western Australia so I will try that also.

Thanks for a detailed reply - I have a lot to think about.

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