Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Alf Nunn's "wings"


stephen p nunn

Recommended Posts

This is my paternal great-uncle, Alfred Thomas NUNN (1900-1980). Although I knew he served in the GW (Army I believe) I have just noticed the wings in this picture. Wish I still had those!

Stephen (Maldon).

alfwings.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here he is in uniform. Can just make out cap badge, but it certainly isn't RFC/RAF....

ALFNUNN.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, stephen p nunn said:

Can just make out cap badge, but it certainly isn't RFC/RAF....

Not my field really, but always willing to give it a go - certainly not RFC/RAF ... but is it perhaps East Surrey Regiment ??

M

Edit: Or perhaps 23rd (Co of London) Battalion, London Regiment - I think I'm erring that way due to the prominent crown and central piercings ??

Edited by Matlock1418
edit
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you Matlock1418 for coming up trumps as usual. So....

eastsurrey.jpg

23lon.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, stephen p nunn said:

Thank you Matlock1418 for coming up trumps as usual. So....

Have you seen my edit above? perhaps 23rd (Co of London) Battalion, London Regiment - I think I'm erring that way due to the prominent crown and central piercings ??

Plenty of images on the web would seem to persuade me - but what would I really know?

M

Edit: Yet another edit! - Did he survive the war?

Edited by Matlock1418
edit
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Matlock1418. Yes, he survived and only died in 1980. Regards. S.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, stephen p nunn said:

Hi Matlock1418. Yes, he survived and only died in 1980. Regards. S.

:doh: Doh, of course ... you put that in the OP - I had just found a dead Alfred Thomas NUNN in the 21st Bn, London Regt. and was worried it might be him - but in that case he would have to have been busted from a Cpl I would have to admit!

I'm still sticking with the 23rd Bn (Co of Lon), LR for the photo

M

Edited by Matlock1418
grammar (ish!)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for all your help Matlock1418. I agree with you about 23 London. Intrigued by the wings 'though. Regards. S.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, stephen p nunn said:

Intrigued by the wings 'though

Young schoolboys could be prone to picking up such badges from wherever [well they were still doing so half a century later by my increasingly dodgy recollection]

I can tell you are intrigued by the 'Wings'. Wishing you good luck.

M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you M. Yes, I am. Have these, but think they are WW2 (if I am allowed to say that here!!!). All the best. S.

rafwings.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, stephen p nunn said:

Have these, but think they are WW2 (if I am allowed to say that here!!!).

Only with care ... 

That would be my worry, and was already nagging me - looks like a later sweetheart type of badge/brooch - but that would also likely bring into doubt your OP photo ID = ???

M

Edited by Matlock1418
Link to comment
Share on other sites

M - I might need to "get my coat" !!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi charlie962 Yes, that's him - Wantz Road, Maldon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

8 hours ago, stephen p nunn said:

Hi charlie962 Yes, that's him - Wantz Road, Maldon.

So East Surrey would fit.

Have we discussed him before?

He wears Corporal's stripes plus an armband. His surviving record doesn't tell us when he made Corporal but I'm assuming that it was when he was Labour Corps?? Would he have continued to wear the ESurrey badge (I'm sure he would from choice)? What is the armband? 

Discharged to Class Z Reserve on Christmas Eve 1919, I see nothing to connect him to RAF/RFC but could he have worked with them 1919 in France with the Chinese Labour Corps for example?

Edited by charlie962
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you charlie962. That's definitely him. Interesting service - I will look at his records. I think the RFC/RAF wings must just be a lad wearing something he admired. 37 HD were at nearby Goldhanger and Stow and so he must have seen aircraft overhead.

Best regards.

Stephen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, stephen p nunn said:

Thank you charlie962. That's definitely him. Interesting service - I will look at his records. I think the RFC/RAF wings must just be a lad wearing something he admired. 37 HD were at nearby Goldhanger and Stow and so he must have seen aircraft overhead.

Best regards.

Stephen.

He probably spent a bit of time watching the flying. A pilot may have 'awarded' him the badge. Worn with pride.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, think that is more likely. Best regards. Stephen (Maldon).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, charlie962 said:

There's a service record for an Alfred Thomas Nunn, whose father lived at 51 Wanton Road, Maldon. Not your man by chance?

Screenshot_20231119-2135442.png.25670a8c18b31086eda95347082f5d3c.png

At WFA/Fold3 there is also a pension index card under Cpl Alfred Thomas NUNN,  681420, TR/10/27080, 36688

But nothing much showing beyond that 24.12.19 discharge date and 22.1.20 [which is quite likely a receipt of claim date] - Currently indexed at Fold3 as Machine Gun Corps [but I think that is probably a mis-index, or at least I can't see the explanation on the PIC]

M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks very much M.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, charlie962 said:

He wears Corporal's stripes plus an armband. His surviving record doesn't tell us when he made Corporal but I'm assuming that it was when he was Labour Corps?? Would he have continued to wear the ESurrey badge (I'm sure he would from choice)?

Labour Corps had their own cap badge and I don't thing there would have been the choice of which to wear when on duty.  Perhaps changed for the privately-commissioned photo?? 

But I'm puzzled by the cap badge shown in Cpl's photo - unless the East Surrey Regt had cap badge variants the prominent crown and pierced centre makes it look more line 23rd (Co of Lon) London Regt to me [though I admit to limited knowedge of this subject].  So I also wonder if perhaps an interim posting before LC ???  I guess time for Stephen to read that SR in full detail.

M

Edited by Matlock1418
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Will do M. Thank you. S.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is what I can glean from his records:

  • Enlisted 30-1-1917
  • Mobilised 7-3-1917
  • Medical category A in March 1917
  • Joined 31st Training Reserve Battalion, 8-3-1917, No. TR/10/27080
  • Transferred to 4th Reserve Battalion East Surrey Regiment,  April 1917, No. 33688 (probably GS/4/33688)
  • 4th Reserve Battalion at Saltash near Plymouth in early 1917.
  • Apparent posting to 2nd Battalion Royal West Surrey Regiment, but no medals so no overseas service prior to 11-11-1918? - Most men in this 4th E.S. Regiment batch went overseas in July 1917. There is a gap in the Labour Corps medal rolls where his entry would have been in normal circumstances.
  • 4th Reserve Battalion moved to Felixstowe in September 1917 for duty with Harwich Garrison.
  • Passed Range Taking Course, Sep 1917
  • Deemed to be in Medical Category B2 by No 4 Travelling Medical Board at Felixstowe in August 1918
  • Transferred to the Labour Corps, No. 618420, and posted to 102nd Reserve Labour Company, 25-11-1918
  • Posted to "B" Company, Eastern Command Labour Centre, Sutton, Felixstowe, 30-11-1918
  • Posted to 508th Home Service Employment Company, Labour Corps at Tonbridge Wells, 24-12-1918
  • Posted to 583rd Home Service Employment Company, Labour Corps at Sutton (Sutton and Sutton Hoo, north of Felixstowe?), 18-4-1919
  • Posted to BEF for service with Chinese Labour Corps, 17-7-1919
  • Promoted to temporary Corporal, 20-7-1919
  • Class Z, 24-12-1919

 

To me it looks like the picture is from his time attached to the Chinese Labour Corps in 1919.

 

Steve.

Edited by Stebie9173
Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, Stebie9173 said:

To me it looks like the picture is from his time attached to the Chinese Labour Corps in 1919.

I agree. Although strictly still Labour Corps (?) I suspect he wanted his East Surrey affiliation shown..

Thoughts @FROGSMILE incl what the armband might be about?

Edited by charlie962
Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, Stebie9173 said:

This is what I can glean from his records:

  • Enlisted 30-1-1917
  • Mobilised 7-3-1917
  • Medical category A in March 1917
  • Joined 31st Training Reserve Battalion, 8-3-1917, No. TR/10/27080
  • Transferred to 4th Reserve Battalion East Surrey Regiment,  April 1917, No. 33688 (probably GS/4/33688)
  • 4th Reserve Battalion at Saltash near Plymouth in early 1917.
  • Apparent posting to 2nd Battalion Royal West Surrey Regiment, but no medals so no overseas service prior to 11-11-1918? - Most men in this 4th E.S. Regiment batch went overseas in July 1917. There is a gap in the Labour Corps medal rolls where his entry would have been in normal circumstances.
  • 4th Reserve Battalion moved to Felixstowe in September 1917 for duty with Harwich Garrison.
  • Passed Range Taking Course, Sep 1917
  • Deemed to be in Medical Category B2 by No 4 Travelling Medical Board at Felixstowe in August 1918
  • Transferred to the Labour Corps, No. 618420, and posted to 102nd Reserve Labour Company, 25-11-1918
  • Posted to "B" Company, Eastern Command Labour Centre, Sutton, Felixstowe, 30-11-1918
  • Posted to 508th Home Service Employment Company, Labour Corps at Tonbridge Wells, 24-12-1918
  • Posted to 583rd Home Service Employment Company, Labour Corps at Sutton (Sutton and Sutton Hoo, north of Felixstowe?), 18-4-1919
  • Posted to BEF for service with Chinese Labour Corps, 17-7-1919
  • Promoted to temporary Corporal, 20-7-1919
  • Class Z, 24-12-1919

Thanks for posting - makes life easier for those of us who don't have such access. :thumbsup:

The cap badge in the photo is still a bit of a puzzle [to me anyway] but does seem likely a personal choice.

M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...