31491 Albert Eamer 9th Btn Devonshire Reg

[johnbeales]

My wifes late grandfather, Private 31491 Albert Eamer of the 9th Battalion the Devonshire Regiment was awarded the Military Medal in WW1 but nobody ( including his son, my father-in-law) knows any details of the incident or actions resulting in its award . My father-in-law is now 73 and I am trying to put together a presenttaion for him on his fathers military service.

The regimental musuem archivist advised me his award was recorded in the London Gazette on 23 July 1919, having been awarded on 3 March 1919 but could not give me the date he earned the medal.

My father-in-law has the original presentation scroll ( just a list of servicemen and their units who received awards on the same day) and his medals. From reading C.T Atkinsons 'The Devonshire Regiment 1914-1918' and matching it to other units mentioned on the scroll I narrowed down my search to November 1918. I visited the National Archive and read the Devonshire Regt War Diaries for the period and established he was advised of his award of the medal on 29 November 1918 at Pommereuil, France. The award would seem to be related to action between 3 and 8 November 1918 between Le Cateau and Pommereuil.

Does anybody have any ideas on other avenues to pursue or any information related to the 9th Btn Devonshire Regiment between 3 and 8 November 1918 which might help me find out more?

Other Devonshire Regt soldiers who were awarded Military Medals on the same day were ;

57322 L/C J.P Mathews

9458 Pte C. Tuckerman

15807 Pte W.Newman

23157 Pte H.C Venning

43234 Pte T. Radmore

14340 Sgt S.J. Harper

31547 Pte H.E Baker

31753 Cpl D.Roberts

I haven't been able to find out when Albert joined up; we have a photo of him as a baby faced young man in uniform but wearing the cap badge of the Gloucestershire Regiment ( his home county). Would this have been because he went into a local training unit prior to being assigned to the Devonshires?

Any information would be gratefully received. Thanks

John Beales

[johnbeales]

Anyone have any ideas please?

Where would his MM citation be recorded? Albert Eamer apparently served in the post war occupation forces in Turkey, possibly in the Military Police, until ?1922.

My wifes late grandfather, Private 31491 Albert Eamer of the 9th Battalion the Devonshire Regiment was awarded the Military Medal  in WW1 but nobody ( including his son, my father-in-law) knows any details of the incident or actions resulting in its award . My father-in-law is now 73 and I am trying to put together  a presentation for him on his fathers military service.

The regimental musuem archivist advised me his award was recorded in the London Gazette on 23 July 1919, having been awarded on 3 March 1919 but could not give me the date he earned the medal.

My father-in-law has the original presentation scroll  ( just a list of servicemen and their units who received awards on the same day) and his medals.  From reading  C.T Atkinsons 'The Devonshire Regiment 1914-1918' and matching it to other units mentioned on the scroll I narrowed down my search to November 1918. I visited the National Archive and read the Devonshire Regt War Diaries for the period and established he was advised of his award of the medal on 29 November 1918 at Pommereuil, France.  The award would seem to be related to action between 3 and 8 November 1918 between Le Cateau and Pommereuil.

Does anybody have any ideas on other avenues to pursue or any information related to the 9th Btn Devonshire Regiment between 3 and 8 November 1918 which might help me find out more?

Other Devonshire Regt soldiers who were awarded Military Medals on the same day were ;

57322 L/C J.P Mathews

9458 Pte C. Tuckerman

15807 Pte W.Newman

23157 Pte H.C Venning

43234 Pte T. Radmore

14340 Sgt S.J. Harper

31547 Pte H.E Baker

31753 Cpl D.Roberts

I haven't been able to find out when Albert joined up; we have a photo of him as a baby faced young man in  uniform but wearing the cap badge of the Gloucestershire Regiment ( his home county).  Would this have been because he went into a local training unit  prior to being assigned to the Devonshires?

Any information would be gratefully received. Thanks

John Beales

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John.

The next 3 posts are scans from Atkinson's Devonshire Regimental history covering the last days of the war...

Dave.

1/

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2/

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and... 3/...

[johnbeales]

Thanks Dave,

I have Atkinsons book and was able to put some 'meat on the bone' from entries in the battalion War diary at the N.A; one memorable line metions German machine gunners being shot as they wre wearing red cross armbands.

This is probably a hopeless search as I am assuming there was actually a citation for his medal and it was amongst the 'burnt records'.

His daughter vaguelly remembers him mentioning being asked to carry a dispatch under fire and not knowing of his award until his name was called out at a battalion gathering some time later. Unfortunately he was dead by ther time I met my wife as I would certainly have asked!

Thanks

John

[PPCLI]

This is  probably a hopeless search as I am assuming there was actually a citation for his medal and it was amongst the 'burnt records'.

Hi John,

If you look at the parent site under Gallantry awards:

Gallantry awards

For MM, it states, "All awards of the MM were announced in the London Gazette, with no citation."

I'm sure I've read in other posts that there was only ever one copy of a MM citation and that was given to the recipient himself, who was told "don't lose it". Therefore, I think it unlikely that you will ever find something specific, unless he was part of a battalion where there are large appendices with all the original citations recorded (I have seen a couple - both Canadian units). I may have picked this up wrong, but if I have I'm sure that someone will let us know

On the positive side, you have managed to get a lot further than a lot of people ever do with this type of research (including myself). Indeed, your wife has given a very plausible account of what the award was for. I'm sure your father-in-law will be very pleased with your research and appreciative of your efforts.

All the best,

Stuart