Canadian Infantry only served UK entitlement

[chaz]

my latest addition to the collection is a BWM to T A Wheeler 442235 54th Canadian Infantry. his service record covers 104 pages, but was medically discharged having only ever served in England. a couple of questions.

1/ I should be recieving his BWM, the qualifiication being must have entered a theatre of war or served overseas, presumably he qualified travelling from Canada to the UK? no victory entitlement?

2/ as suffered from rheumatism age 46 no SWB entitlement.?

3/ one of his files is marked Deceased 22-10-53,  would this be normal to update an old file, bearing in mind the Blitz took the majority of UK ones or was it a Canadian thing?

4/ enlisted Canada 14/7/ 1915 returned 15/5/1918, what sort of service could he do to stay enlisted for this length of time , could he have been put to use for anything else such as recruiting?

thanks for input

[Keith_history_buff]

18 minutes ago, chaz said:

3/ one of his files is marked Deceased 22-10-53,  would this be normal to update an old file, bearing in mind the Blitz took the majority of UK ones or was it a Canadian thing?

 

I don't understand why you think the War Office fire would have an effect on records stored in Canada. I've looked at several hundred AIF files, and in many cases, the death of that Digger is recorded on file. 

[Keith_history_buff]

33 minutes ago, chaz said:

1/ I should be recieving his BWM, the qualifiication being must have entered a theatre of war or served overseas, presumably he qualified travelling from Canada to the UK? no victory entitlement?

I would agree with you, entitlement to BWM. I have seen TF men of the Hampshire Regiment spend time overseas doing garrison duty in India, and their sole entitlement is the BWM. Given they left their home, and went overseas, albeit not to a theatre of war, this limits their entitlement.

[RNCVR]

A CEF soldier leaving Canada to serve only in UK qualified for the BWM only.

Had he reached France\Flanders he would have qualified for the Victory medal.

[Keith_history_buff]

36 minutes ago, chaz said:

2/ as suffered from rheumatism age 46 no SWB entitlement.?

He had the right to apply for a silver war badge, but it sounds as though he did not exercise this right. I am not aware of there being automatic issuing of the SWB.

[chaz]

2 hours ago, Keith_history_buff said:

 

I don't understand why you think the War Office fire would have an effect on records stored in Canada. I've looked at several hundred AIF files, and in many cases, the death of that Digger is recorded on file. 

Keith, my reason for asking was nothing to do with the blitz, just that the Canadians had updated his file, but should the uk files have survived, they wouldn't have been  annotated his death or would they? Incase of compensation claim etc. I doubt my grandfather dying in 1963 would have a more on despite his head wound occurring during the war and him being a moody person.

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

25 minutes ago, chaz said:

should the uk files have survived, they wouldn't have been  annotated his death or would they?

No I don't think so.

26 minutes ago, chaz said:

Incase of compensation claim etc. I doubt my grandfather dying in 1963 would have a more on despite his head wound occurring during the war and him being a moody person.

Perhaps a record might have survived if there was a pension claim?

[Keith_history_buff]

I have come across files in the WO 363 / WO 364 series that have contained post-1945 information. In one instance there was a certified copy of that man's death certificate provided by his daughter. He died of natural causes in about 1963. I would not say it is as common as the AIF service records, where I often saw death dates recorded in pencil but I have seen it on occasion in British Army WW1 service records.

[regimentalrogue]

As a Canadian soldier who served only in England, his entlelement was the BWM. It is common to find the date of death, and sometimes a Veterans Affairs form noting the soldier's death in the CEF service records. The notation of date of death is common enough that I expect to see it in the CEF records. The length of his wartime service may reflect ongoing medical care before his discharge or he may have returned to duty (within his medical category) on return to Canada.

[travers61]

I had a Canadian WW1 vet & DCM winner among my relations. He passed away in the 1990's in a veterans hospital in British Coloumbia.  Perhaps this reflects a pro-active goverment involvement in veterans health issues & welfare into their old age, hence they were more aware of veterans deaths or advised by the families.

[chaz]

just to close this, received the BWM for him today, and whilst looking at the service record again, he had had Myalgia, Flu and Rheumatism.

there is a sticker on the medal pocket that says died 1953 due to WW1 service, and on one of the cards. Cross to widow: single during service and Cross to mother: deceased.

So, presumably his mother/wife was to be sent a memorial cross, presumably the fact that he had no wife and his mother was dead, would a cross have been sent or is it still available?   his NOK was in Canada and he originated from Ireland, names and addresses on cards, so would the cross have been sent there.

 

dying of Myalgia, flu or rheumatism 35 years after leaving the service, and receiving a cross seems a bit of a long qualification period. 

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Depends on what the criteria for such a cross were. 

[chaz]

from mr Wiki

 

On 1 December 1919, King George V, on the advice of his Cabinet under Prime Minister Robert Borden, created the Memorial Cross as a memento of personal loss and sacrifice on the part of widows and mothers of Canadian sailors, soldiers, and airmen who had lost their lives for the country during the First World War. This included widows and mothers of those whose post-war death was related to their war service.

 

as mentioned post war death related 35 years, seems a bit long

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Obviously they weren't using the same criteria as CWGC did for commemoration.

And his cause of death was deemed by someone to have been related to his service.

Just because he had Myalgia, flu or rheumatism in his service record doesn't mean he died of any of them.

 

[regimentalrogue]

Here's is Wheeler's Veteran's Death Card on file at Library and Archives Canada. Cause of death was pnemonia, attributed to service, and hie identified next of kin is a brother.

 

 

Links to the set of Veteran's Death cards can be found on my page here: http://www.regimentalrogue.com/misc/researching_first_world_war_soldiers_part19.htm

[Keith_history_buff]

1 hour ago, regimentalrogue said:

Links to the set of Veteran's Death cards can be found on my page here: http://www.regimentalrogue.com/misc/researching_first_world_war_soldiers_part19.htm

This looks like a very useful resource. Thanks for sharing.