Corporal William Sellens

[Guest rsel]

Hi all,

I am trying to track down some more places were i could possibly find out some more details about my Great Uncle William Sellens military career. I know the following information about him so far, which i have obtained from the London Gazette and his military medal card.

• Service Number 54806
• He was a Corporal in the Royal Field Artillery, and served in France from 1915. At some point he was promoted to an acting Sergeant, and reverted back to being a Corporal in Jul 1919.
• He is listed as being awarded the Military Medal, which is listed in the London Gazette on the 12th Dec 1917.

Family stories also say that he was leading the Battery, which fired the 21 Gun salute across the Rhine, which marked the end of the War. He had a photograph of this event on his home wall apparently, but nobody knows what happened to this after he died, or what happened to his medals.

What i would like to be able to find out is what he received the MM for, or even a likely cause, and where i might be able to find a copy of the photograph. I have been told that the War Diaries may be able to help with the first bit of information, but where would i find them and what information would i need locate the correct one, i assume that i would need to find his specific unit but i don't know this.

Any help or pointers would be most helpful.

Richard

[Stebie9173]

In this game the casualties and the brave men are the easiest to trace.

Have you downloaded either of/both of his Medal Index Cards?

These are links to his Medal Cards:

Medal card of Sellens, William C H

Corps Regiment No Rank

Royal Field Artillery 54806 Gunner

Royal Field Artillery 54806 Acting Serjeant

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

This first one is for his campaign medals. Unfortunately there is often not much to be gleaned from artillery MICs or the Medal Rolls that they index, but you never know until you look...

The cost to download is £3.50. You get 6 to A PDF sheet, 5 strangers, and your own man.

Secondly, and probably just as helpful at this stage, is his MM card:

Medal card of Sellars, W C H

Corps Regiment No Rank

Royal Field Artillery 54806 Corporal

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

The vast majority of these will state an exact unit and thereby help pin down his service, at least at that moment in time. Another £3.50 I'm afraid.

When you have looked at the cards and you have had a look at the Genealogists section of the Long, Long Trail (link at the top) we'll answer your next questions!

Hope this helps,

Steve.

EDIT: Rereading your post I note that you have probably looked at his MM card. I assume from the fact that you have stated he was a corporal that you have checked the 2nd card I have highlighted? Did it not state his unit?

[Guest rsel]

EDIT: Rereading your post I note that you have probably looked at his MM card. I assume from the fact that you have stated he was a corporal that you have checked the 2nd card I have highlighted? Did it not state his unit?

Hi Steve,

I have one medal card, not sure which one, as only one existed on the Nation Archives site when i downloaded it a few months ago , but this only mentions the RFA and not any unit.

On the war diares, i had seen the bit on the web site, but i was still not any clearer about how to find the correct one as when i searched the NA site for the 'Royal Field Artilery' i got a few thousand responses

Richard