Interpreting Great Grandad's MM MIC

[Guest erbojones]

Hi, This is my first ever post on ANY type of forum so please be gentle!

I'm researching my Great Grandad Pte Victor Raymond Ford (42296) - who won his Military Medal with the 2/4th Bn. Hampshire Regiment.

I've put his name in the NA archive and found an MIC but it doesn't seem to have any information about what other medals he was entitled to. Can anyone help me with where I should go next - or indeed, what his battalion was up to (I've looked up the battalion on the long, long trail which was very useful) - is there a possibility that he belonged to another battalion/regiment before he won his medal?

I'll attach the MIC that i found on the NA.

Any help from all you experts out there would be greatfully received.

Best wishes

Lesley

[Stebie9173]

Here is his standard MIC:

Medal card of Ford, Victor R

Corps Regiment No Rank

Hampshire Regiment 4229 Acting Corporal

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...1&resultcount=2

The number shown on this one is more in line with a pre-1917 territorial man.

I'll see if I can find his MM...

Which I can't right now. I'll check with my 1916/1917 MM list tonight.

Steve.

Edited 2 December , 2005 by Stebie9173

[Guest erbojones]

Wow, I didn't expect a reply!

Many thanks for your help - look forward to hearing from you again

Lesley

[Guest erbojones]

Right, I've got his other MIC now but there doesn't seem to be much on this one compared to examples I've seen elsewhere.

Any clues? - I think I need to look up the medal rolls - Is is worth asking someone who's going to the NA to help out. I don't think I can get to London for a long while.

Lesley

[Stebie9173]

Military Medal first:

The award of the MM was announced in the London Gazette of 11th February 1919:

42296 Pte. Ford, V. R., 4th Bn. (Bath).

The search engine picked it up as:

42296 Pte. Ford, V. K., 4th Bn. (Bath).

which thwarted me for a while...

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveVi...&selHonourType=

The bit that says Hampshire Regiment is on the previous page.

An award announced around that time would probably been won in the closing months of the war.

Up to early 1918 the delay between the award being won and announced in the Gazette was about 3 months, but late in 1918 the delay grew considerably.

Several confirmed MMs to 12th Division were won on the 5th September 1918, shown in the Signal company War Diary on the 16th October 1918 and in the Gazette on the 13th May 1919. Meanwhile, MMs won in April 1918 appeared in the July 1918 Gazettes.

So a (very) estimated date could be July/August 1918, in my opinion. It must be borne in mind that there were a fair few MMs awarded that did not fit the pattern at all.

Bearing in mind that the MM card is for the 2/4th and that it is stamped France that at least narrows the field to somewhere between the 5th June 1918 when they joined 62nd Division and the end of the War.

The Long, Long Trail has this entry for July 1918 that falls squarely in our "window":

"The enemy launched another offensive in Flanders in May, but the 62nd was not involved. However, when a third huge enemy attack opened in the area held by the thinly-stretched French Army south west of Reims, Sir Douglas Haig agreed to send a British Corps, consisting of 15th (Scottish), 34th, 51st (Highland) and 62nd (2nd West Riding) Divisions, to assist. The 51st and 62nd had several days of very heavy fighting, which is now officially known as the The Battle of the Tardenois. [20th - 31st July 1918] In the above action, the Division took part in the fighting for the Ardre Valley"

This battle is also in the frame:

"The Battle of Bapaume (second phase of the Second Battles of the Somme 1918)

The Corps was brought back into the British area in time to assist with the beginning of the series of blows that forced the enemy back over a long distance and was a primary cause of the enemy requesting an Armistice in November 1918. On 25th August, units of the 62nd Division captured Mory – not far from Arras. It was then involved in heavy fighting as the line was pressed forward, and it beat off several determined enemy counter attacks at Vraucourt and Vaulx-Vraucourt."

As you can see it could be several times and places.

We have a few Hampshire Regiment researchers here who may be able to help further.

The other possible port of call is the Bath newspapers for 1918.

Other 4th Battalion men who are mentioned as winning the MM in the same Gazette:

200343 Coy./S.M. Tilson, J. H., 4thBn. (Romford).

201152 Sjt. (A./Coy./Q.M,Sjt.) Barney, A., 4th Bn. (Alton).

8798 Sjt. Bettridge, J., 4th Bn. (Romsey).

306830 Sjt. Redman, G., 4th Bn. (Fordingbridge).

200315 Cpl. Hixon, H. H., 4th Bn. (Andover),

201652 Pte. Banning, C. J., 4th Bn. (Burbage).

201339 Pte. Brandon, S. V., 4th Bn. (Aldershot)

202475 Pte. Cawte, G. H., 4th Bn. (Shirley).

202461 Pte. Clarke, F. W., 4th Bn. (Southsea).

200757 Pte. Ellis, J., 4th Bn. (Winchfield).

356839 Pte. Merson, F. C., 4th Bn. (Gaunton).

8470 Pte. Purdue, W., 4th Bn. ([E] Winchester).

202428 Pte. Street, G., 4th Bn. (Alton).

202815 Pte. Tappenden, F., 4th Bn. (Parkgate).

33560 Pte. Tonkin, F. A., 4th Bn. (Bristol).

201825 Pte. West, P., 4th Bn. (Alton).

(In case any Hampshire researchers recognise a name or two)

Steve.

[Guest erbojones]

Thanks so much for your research - I already had the London Gazette reference (took me ages to find him - not the most intuitive of search engines on that site!)

My Dad seems to think that having an MM would have been a big deal and was probably in the local Bath Chronicle. I've got loads of rellies in Bath so I might send them to the local library.

Your help has been invaluable.

Many thanks

Lesley

[Stebie9173]

If it's a help rather than a hindrance then the 5th Royal Berkshires have a big batch of medals in that gazette for actions between the 21st and 24th August 1918.

Might point towards the August action, but could of course be a red herring!

I think from his number (assuming that 42296 is the correct one) that he was probably a New Army man. No expert on the Hampshires but looking at the number of Battalions they raised, he may have enlisted some time during 1915 and overseas in 1916. That is purely a guestimate, though.

Steve.

[Guest erbojones]

You're a star

Thankyou