Where are they?

[nicburch]

Hello All,

I am researching the roll of honour of the men from my village.There are some names that are neither on the CWGC site or not mentioned as having a medal card on the National Archives site;would there have been some reason for this?One example is Pte. Basil Chapman,Bucks.Battalion,O&B L.I.

What is the best way of finding soldiers who survived the war. Thanks.

[Desmond7]

The best way of finding out about those who served and survived is painfully slow but worthwhile.

Hit you local studies library and go through the old papers from 14-18 and beyond if you need to.

Your best bet is to browse in the nearest local weekly of the time. These should be on microfiche in your library. An amazing amount of information there for the trawling.

Best wishes.

[John_Hartley]

First do a Google. I suggest entering the phrase "needle in haystack". Follow instructions given.

Seriously, is the roll of honour just supposed to be of casualties or all that served? If the latter, then the likely explanation is that they didnt die. The likely explanation for not finding a Medal Index Card is that they didnt serve abroad.

There are then a variety of other possible explanations for why the chap may not be listed on CWGC. May not have died within the qualifying period, or from a war-related injury or illness, there may be an error or he may have served under a different name. Any, all or none of these are possible. Sussing it out is what makes war memorial research such "fun".

In terms of men who survived, you may have a good chance of following them as you are researching a village rather than a larger urban area. Check local newspapers and other records for likely post-war events -chap got married, died, had children, scored 100 at cricket - that sort of thing.

But don't despair. It's happened to all of us who have this as our particular Great War enthusiasm. There's always a percentage of names that defy identificiation.

Good luck

John

[shaymen]

Hello All,

I am researching the roll of honour of the men from my village.There are some names that are neither on the CWGC site or not mentioned as having a medal card on the National Archives site;would there have been some reason for this?One example is Pte. Basil Chapman,Bucks.Battalion,O&B L.I.

What is the best way of finding soldiers who survived the war. Thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Whilst searching men on my local Mem I kept coming up with slight name spelling discrepancies - try a few different variations.

Post the names on here and I am sure there will be plenty of pals willing to help.

Glyn