Denise Hopkins Posted 6 May , 2021 Share Posted 6 May , 2021 Good evening, my brother-in-law has his GF's medals but knows nothing about his war years has he was reluctant to talk about them. Any information would help his family to build a clear picture of his service and time in the army. Kind regards, Denise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1959 Posted 6 May , 2021 Share Posted 6 May , 2021 (edited) Can you confirm regimental number. There is a Arthur Coleman 2120. There are a few surviving docs for 2120. Edited 6 May , 2021 by Mark1959 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Hopkins Posted 6 May , 2021 Author Share Posted 6 May , 2021 Yes 2120 would be correct. It was not very clear on his medal. Kind regards Denise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1959 Posted 6 May , 2021 Share Posted 6 May , 2021 Great. There are some if limited records. 8th Battalion. He had a later number due to renumbering in 1917, 305395. Will examine in the morning. Do you have access to ancestry or another genealogy site? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Hopkins Posted 6 May , 2021 Author Share Posted 6 May , 2021 No sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancpal Posted 6 May , 2021 Share Posted 6 May , 2021 He first entered a theatre of war (in his case France) on the 2/3/15. He was also awarded a Silver War Badge meaning he was injured enough not to be retained as a soldier though he was not disembodied until 23/1/19 so probably a late war injury. if you register with Ancestry you should be able to download his battalions war diary (free at present) which will give details of day to day movements though he is unlikely to be named. I don’t have any subscriptions so can’t look further I’m afraid. Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1959 Posted 7 May , 2021 Share Posted 7 May , 2021 The Silver War Badge entry show he served from 12/8/14 to 23/1/1919. This is confirmed by his service documents. These are discharge documents. The medical docs summarise his service as 3y 10m in France and 6m in UK. As Simon says he first entered France on 2/3/15. This appears to be the time when the whole 1/8th battalion moved to France. As the medal roll only mentions this battalion we will have to assume all his overseas service was with that unit. There is nothing to suggest otherwise. Unfortunately he had a rather unpleasant case of piles - this is what led to his discharge (no pun intended). It was deemed this was due to his service. Looks as if his he was sent back to work in the mines as well The War Diary for his unit is also downloadable from the National Archives from https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7354522 If you create an account its free at the moment. This will give you a broad idea where the unit went to and what they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Hopkins Posted 7 May , 2021 Author Share Posted 7 May , 2021 Thanks Mark and Mancpal for your research. A lucky boy to survive the war! Do you know if he was wounded at any point during the war and if so what were his injuries and where do you think he may have been treated ? It must be very unusual to go through the war without a couple of wounds? Thanks Denise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matlock1418 Posted 7 May , 2021 Share Posted 7 May , 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, Mark1959 said: The Silver War Badge entry show he served from 12/8/14 to 23/1/1919. He has a pension card under 305395 which has this same date of discharge. He got a pension of 5/6 pw from 24.1.19 to 27.20 [indicative of an assessment of 20% disability at the time of award] :-) M Edited 7 May , 2021 by Matlock1418 typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Hopkins Posted 8 May , 2021 Author Share Posted 8 May , 2021 Thanking you, Denise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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