In WWI my grandfather apparently flew Sopwith Camels. Can I validate this?

[Sop With Camel]

19 hours ago, horatio2 said:

Correct. The reports are a bit scattered so, for clarity, here is the timeline:-

From RND Base Depot, Calais, he joined Howe Battalion RND in the line at Gavrelle 9 Sep 17;  Fought with Howe Bn. RND at Passchendaele Oct-Nov 17;  Wounded at Welsh Ridge and to 149  Field Ambulance FA) 30 Dec 17;  To 56 Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) 2 Jan 18;  Admitted No, 6 Stationary Hospital (SH), Rouen, 4 Jan 18;  Invalided to UK per Military Hospital Ship ST ANDREW 6 Jan 18;  Admitted Queen Mary Hospital, Whalley, Lancashire, 7 Jan 18.

Do you have his Victory and British War Medals? He did claim them and they were issued to him under his RNVR Sea Service number: Palace Z/2492 (PZ/2492).

This is brilliant! I spent hours on the internet today, reading as much as I could about the RND's involvement in WWI and it's a miracle that I'm here on this planet! Thankyou for explaining it in simple terms. I've had my gf's records for some years and couldn't extract much from the style of recording things with dates all over the place (I realise that it wasn't instantaneously passed on and that they would record an event that had already passed. My gran didn't receive the letter explaining that her husband had been seriously wounded until about 6 mths after the event!) and the codes just befuddled me. But I'm getting a really clear timeline happening in my head it's a revelation!

[Sop With Camel]

On 25/01/2024 at 22:21, horatio2 said:

14 days of that time was spent undergoing Cells punishment for an unrecorded 'crime'.

 

 

I can't believe I didn't take any notice of this ... I must have thought it was more code than literal. I would love to know more! Is this possible?

[horatio2]

50 minutes ago, Sop With Camel said:

I can't believe I didn't take any notice of this ... I must have thought it was more code than literal. I would love to know more! Is this possible?

Not likely as the ship's logs of HMS CRESCENT appear not to have survived after October 1917. Even if they had, then  his crime and punishment were probably not recorded there. We will probably never know  more.

[Sop With Camel]

2 minutes ago, horatio2 said:

Not likely as the ship's logs of HMS CRESCENT appear not to have survived after October 1917. Even if they had, then  his crime and punishment were probably not recorded there. We will probably never know  more.

My dad wrote in his memoirs of his father, "he was quiet, didn't drink nor smoke".

I wanted to ask about the other ship in his records, Victory? About the I & X after the word Victory? Also about the word Palace? Is it Crystal Palace?

[horatio2]

30 minutes ago, Sop With Camel said:

I wanted to ask about the other ship in his records, Victory? About the I & X after the word Victory? Also about the word Palace? Is it Crystal Palace?

In large pay offices such as at Portsmouth (HMS VICTORY) the work was often sub-divided into smaller Accounts Sections, each handling a specific range of accounts. The sub-divisions were identified by Roman numerals as here: - VICTORY I and VICTORY X.

Palace does indeed refer to the RN Depot Crystal Palace. In this case the Official Number Palace Z/**** was given to civilian entries and military transfers into the RNVR which were administered there. In loose terms, they were Crystal Palace Entries, although they may never have set foot there..

[Sop With Camel]

On 26/01/2024 at 04:09, horatio2 said:

Do you have his Victory and British War Medals? He did claim them and they were issued to him under his RNVR Sea Service number: Palace Z/2492 (PZ/2492).

I've never ever seen his medals ... I would love to see them. Someone back home must have them somewhere.

Edited 27 January by Sop With Camel

[Sop With Camel]

Can some kind soul please break this down for me?

8.2.18.Recd. AFB/103, 17.7.17, emb.Folkes.disemb.Boul;18.7.17, to BD.Cal;

Thank you,

Martin

[KizmeRD]

AFB/103 was a casualty report form.

emb. Folkes = embarked Folkstone (date)

disemb. Boul. = disembarked Boulogne (date)

to BD Cal = to base depot Calais

MB

[Sop With Camel]

5 minutes ago, KizmeRD said:

AFB/103 was a casualty report form.

emb. Folkes = embarked Folkstone (date)

disemb. Boul. = disembarked Boulogne (date)

to BD Cal = to base depot Calais

MB

Cheers KizmeRD! I looked these places up on maps and wondered why not desemb. at Calais?

Am I correct in interpreting the data as sailed from Folkstone on the 17.7.17, arrived at Boulogne on the same day then headed (by train?) to Base Depot, Calais on the 18.7.17? Or did they leave very late on the 17th & arrive at Boulogne very early the 18th?

[horatio2]

13 minutes ago, Sop With Camel said:

why not desemb. at Calais?

Because the principal route was Folkestone - Boulogne.

14 minutes ago, Sop With Camel said:

Am I correct in interpreting the data as sailed from Folkstone on the 17.7.17, arrived at Boulogne on the same day then headed (by train?) to Base Depot, Calais on the 18.7.17? Or did they leave very late on the 17th & arrive at Boulogne very early the 18th?

Like it says on the tin - depart F 17 July  -  arrive B same day   -  probably late in the day, requiring an overnight train to BD Calais.

You are in danger of over-analysing this!