Help with Interpretation of service file

[Aaron Nelson]

Hi All,

Just one quick interpretation required please. My wifes Great Grandfather Thomas Willacy, 10/1365, Wellington Battalion, was wounded at Gallipoli within the first four days after the landings 25th April.

He was seriously wounded by shrapnel in the left shoulder and shipped back home in July of 1915. On his service record it has a summary of the hospitals he was in during his recovery.

At the top of the page it lists his name as Pvt Thomas Willacy, 10/1365 R.D.S.

What does the RDS stand for??

I dont think its a rank, please note this summary was provided after he was disharged from the army due to his wounds.

Any answers appreciated gratefully.

thanks Aaron.

[alliekiwi]

That one is rather puzzling. Is not on the list of abbreviations I was sent by Trentham!

Not suffering from respiratory distress syndrome? But that would be an odd place to put R.D.S, if so. you'd think it would go next to where they wrote his injuries.

Allie

[alliekiwi]

Aaron, could you scan that bit and put it up? Maybe it actually says something else? Gotta love their handwriting, sometimes.

Allie

[ZackNZ]

How about respiratory distress syndrome?

[Aaron Nelson]

Hi,

Thanks Allie and Zacknz for taking an interest.

It is RDS as it is typed, not handwritten, I dont have a scanner so cant scan it. It is a memorandom from Department of Public Health to thier Director of base records Its written like this.

re 10/1365. T. Willacy: R.D.S.

Re treatment of the above soildier: records in this office show the following:

Then it proceeds to lists the hospitals and dates where he was treated.

The RDS looks like a title you would put after a name, eg MM etc.

The memo was written in September of 1917, he was discharged from the army on 24th April 1916.

Juts out of interest, he was in hospital right up to March of 1916, so he was hospitalised for 11 months after being wounded, could it have been more than just shrapnel in the shoulder he was treated for?

Any ideas??

thanks for any replies.

Aaron.

[alliekiwi]

With it being a 'shoulder' injury, I did wonder if that took in part of the chest where the lungs were. Sort of in the same general area. Hence why I pondered Respiratory Distress Syndrome. And look at the way it's written... that could be the general diagnosis they're discussing.

re 10/1365. T. Willacy: R.D.S.

Re treatment of the above soldier: records in this office show the following:

Could just as easily have been :

re 10/1365. T. Willacy: multiple gunshot wounds

Re treatment of the above soldier: records in this office show the following:

My other vague thought last night had been to do with the [Royal?] Dental Service. But it wasn't called the dental sevice, but rather the dental corp. So that's out.

My Oxford English Dictionary suggests Radio Data System/Service or Royal Dublin Society. Neither of those sound likely, unless your chap is Irish for the latter... and what on earth would a mention of that be doing on a service file, anyway?

Allie

the puzzled

(someone will most likely come along and post that it is something incredibly obvious and basic and we'll all go, 'why on earth didn't we think of that??')

[Guest Bill Woerlee]

Aaron

G'day mate

Just wondering if you have a digital camera - that would solve the scan problem. Take a pic of it and use that - after suitably resizing it. If you need a hand with that - PM or email me - and I will show you how.

Cheers

Bill

PS: RDS might be Regimental Dental Service.

[alliekiwi]

When did he die, Aaron? Because it wouldn't be Respiratory Distress Syndrome if he lived any length of time, and I don't know if that diagnosis was around back then.

Allie

[Aaron Nelson]

Hi all,

He died in 1947, so lived for a long time after the war. His daughter however did say he died of his wounds. How a man dies of his wounds 20 years later ILL never know ?? I suspect his injuries were serious, and like many ex WW1 veterens they spent the rest of thier lives enduring complications caused by thier 'battle wounds' . He was in his early 40s when he died, so quite a young man to pass away.

Please bear in mind this info is on an internal memo of the NZ Department of Health. Its not a military document, its a department of health document as an attachement to his service file. Thats why I dont think the RDS stands for anything military. eg a unit designation etc. Having said that, it does refer to his regimental number.

It may be just one of those mysteries.....

Thanks again all.

Aaron.

[alliekiwi]

How about where he lived? Rotorua District...something?

Allie

[tntx2]

Hi Aaron,

You said that Thomas died in 1947, but then you also said that he was in his early 40s, that would have made him too young to be at Gallipolli.

I would like to share this information with you that you may not know.

Thomas Willacy was born in April 1893 in Featherston, New Zealand. I have his death as 22 July 1947 in Auckland as the result of drowning. His brother James Willlacy was born in 1885. I have the names and dates of all their brothers and sisters and their Mother and Father if you would like them. Thomas and James were my Grandfathers brothers.

Toni