George Vondervelden, RAMC

[Sandra Parker]

After being given so much help with his brothers. I'm hoping it's not asking too much to fill in a bit about George's service. Seems strange that all the brothers, growing up and living in London, should have joined different regiments. Though maybe that's only my view of it and there were other reasons that I know nothing about.

George was born in 1873, and I have very few details about him, although I do have a photo of him as a 'very mature' man!

Really appreciate the members of this forum and the help given so freely.

Sandra

[Blackblue]

Hi again Sandra,

As you have probably already figured out George was a Private in the Royal Army Medical Corps number 2278. He went to France on 8 May 1915 and was Disembodied (discharged) on 14 April 1919. He was issued with the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service.

I do not know if you will have any luck ascertaining which unit he was with as I beleive RAMC medals were issued by corps, not by unit. RAMC men could have been attached to a variety of units including Field Ambulances, Casualty Clearing Stations, and Hospitals.

LIke your other men I would suggest obtaining his Medal Rolls and having a search done for his service papers.

The other notations on the card appear to refer to the renaming of his Star because of a misspelling.

Rgds

Tim

[Sandra Parker]

Thanks again for your advice. I've certainly been given heaps of leads to follow, so I guess I'll be a bit quiet on the forum for a bit, while I take the next steps. Only James Vondervelden left to find something about.

Interesting about the name, as the rest of the family and all non military references, eg birth, marriage certificates, were using Van der Delden or Van der Velden spelling and a story in the family is that the Von was changed because of the war, although that doesn't seem to be borne out as the change happened long before WW1.

Cheers

Sandra

[Blackblue]

Hi Sandra,

If you also post James' card someone will probably be able to tell you more about him. It would be quite normal for brothers to end up in different regiments. Of course when some men enlisted together they originally joined the same battalion, such as the New Army Pals battalions. They may also have simply enlisted on different days or at different recruiting offices, and were simply sent where they were needed. This quite often meant that a man could, for example, enlist in Gloucester and end up serving with the Lancashire Fusiliers (as did my grandfather). Transfers also occurred after a man had served with one unit and retured to the UK wounded, sick or otherwise. When again fit for front line service they would often be transferred from a reinforcement pool to a completely unrelated regiment, wherever they were most needed. If not fit for infantry service they often found themselves transferred to the Labour Corps, Army Service Corps or Royal Engineers.

Rgds

Tim