Information Sought

[Dave T]

A friend is researching her relative who was awarded the MM but she cannot find out why he received the award.

I seem to recall that a book was published recently which gives the details of all MM winners but I cannot remember the title. Can anyone help?

Dave

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

There are published rolls of the MM but they would only contain the LG promulgation date,name,unit & number of the recipient.

If you post what details you have of the recipient,these are accessible via the LG online site,Member Steve Beeby{"Stebie"}has a roll of recipients by year of award.

It is unlikely that Citation details will be published,very;very few were,for a handful of Nurses & some late awards & a few for North Russia post 1919.

The most likely avenue for such research is either via contemporary Local Paper reports,A local hero was usually worth a picture & a few lines in the local "Rag" @ the time,or occasionally one finds details in a Battalion,Division or Brigade War Diary,again rarely,it is unfortunate but the powers that be for whatever reason chose not to keep the records of the circumstances of these Awards,most frustrating for us today!

[Dave T]

Apologies for the delay in responding. The only known details are Stephen McKnight 3622 Royal Munster Fusiliers died 22 March 1918.

Many thanks for any help you can give.

Regards,

Dave

[Stebie9173]

Stephen McKnight's MM was gazetted on 17th September 1917.

8/3622 Pte. S. McKnight, R. Mun. Fus. (Kilrush).

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

That's as much as the London Gazette will tell us. He should have a seperate Medal Card on the National Archives website which should tell us which battalion he was with when he won it. It is always best not to assume that he was with the same battalion all the time (although if he started and died with the same battalion it's a safer bet.)

IN GENERAL, MMs were gazetted approximately 3 months after being won at this time of the war. However, there are enough variations for this to be misleading if taken as gospel. All we can say is that he probably won it before the end of August 1917. At a complete guess, the battle of Messines is a possibility.

As HarryBetts has said next stop would be either War Diaries, Battalion/Brigade/Division/Regimental Histories, War Diaries and the old local papers.

Steve.