Lorenzo Williams, F34599

[Allan1892]

The above named enlisted on the 31st July 1917 -- he was at President II (Crystal Palace and what looks like Hedgate ??)

Am I correct in reading the next entry below as Chatham Hospital ??

Finally, can someone please decipher the comment in the remarks column?

(image courtesy of Find My Past)

[horatio2]

RNAS Westgate (St Mildred's Bay, Kent) a seaplane station.

The last entry does seem to be Chatham Hospital but the cause of discharge on 22 Sep 1917 is a riddle. Possibly a discharge invalided

The REMARKS are eually obtuse:   possibly "Qual[ified] in Air Serv[ice] Rating".

He qualified for a British War Medal only but it was never claimed or isued.

Edited 3 January by horatio2

[Allan1892]

Many thanks for your reply. As we have all said before, if only the clerk just took a little more time when writing

[horatio2]

Should you wish to dig deeper  -  It is fortunate that, because he was not transferred to the RAF on 1 April 1918, his engagement (and possibly discharge) papers should have survived in the archive of the Fleet Air Arm Museum (**). You should be able to purchase copies. Worth an enquiry?

(**) The RNAS engagement papers of men who did transfer were handed to the RAF, who have since destroyed them all. The ADM 188 ledger records of such men usually bear the manuscript notation "Engt to RAF". (e.g.  https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6834529  )

[Allan1892]

14 minutes ago, horatio2 said:

is engagement (and possibly discharge) papers should have survived in the archive of the Fleet Air Arm Museum (**). You should be able to purchase copies. Worth an enquiry?

Many thanks -- I was thinking on this possibility last evening when my wife was watching something on TV and up popped a mention about the Fleet Air Arm Museum. I think I'll drop them them an email to sound them out.