William Reid

[benakaim]

I have some sketchy knowledge of my grandfather from well-worn hand-me-down stories. He was William Reid enlisted in 1914. He was from Glasgow. He was wounded in France, whilst at the same time all his mates were killed in an explosion. His brother Arthur was wounded at 16- shot through the cheek.

Once recovered my grandfather enlisted in the RFC. Almost blind without his specs, he memorized the site test and was allowed to join. He told me -an awestruck youngster - that he flew a Sopwith Camel.

Through this site I have found a Lance-Corporal W.Reid (no. 23157) in along list of people mentioned in despatches for The Royal Engineers. Not sure why or when. This could be him.

I would love to learn a little more about where he may have been stationed and what he might have been involved in. Not sure where to go next. Any ideas anyone?

After the war he became a rubber planter in Malaya, and had the misfortune to be imprisoned in Changi gaol for the duration of the second world war. After the war, the Communist emergency in Malaya proved too much and he retired to Edinburgh with his wife Ella.

[Stebie9173]

Bearing in mind the story, could this be him?

Medal card of Reid, William

Corps Regiment No Rank

Royal Highlanders S/8606 Private

Royal Flying Corps 136920 Private

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...p;resultcount=3

Steve.

[benakaim]

Bearing in mind the story, could this be him?

Medal card of Reid, William

Corps Regiment No Rank

Royal Highlanders S/8606 Private

Royal Flying Corps 136920 Private

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...p;resultcount=3

Steve.

[benakaim]

Thanks, Steve. This is amazing! Do you know if it's possible to go deeper with this information or is this as far as it goes?

The card itself has a few acronyms and numbers on it, but its pretty hard to follow and it looks as if it might refer to another ledger of some kind.

Thanks again for your swift detective work!

Stephen

[jay dubaya]

Stephen, if you post the MIC on the forum it may hold a few more clues to your grandfathers service,

cheers, Jon

ps file size needs to be belw 100kb

[benakaim]

Stephen, if you post the MIC on the forum it may hold a few more clues to your grandfathers service,

cheers, Jon

ps file size needs to be belw 100kb

[benakaim]

Stephen, if you post the MIC on the forum it may hold a few more clues to your grandfathers service,

cheers, Jon

ps file size needs to be belw 100kb

[mts]

Hi hope this worked

Mel

[benakaim]

Dear All

Thanks so much for this. I paid for a PDF copy of the MIC from the National Archives, but file size was too big for me to include.

Two further questions:

1)My mother has just told me that my Grandfather once said he was Bombadier. Can this be true if he was in the Royal Highlanders (please excuse my ignorance!)?

2) When it gives the date of entry therein, does that mean when the card was fillied out or when he went to France for the first time?

Thanks as ever

Stephen

[Guest Stephen W Benaim]

Hello

William Reid: Royal Flying Corps 136920 Private [from the service record]

On the back of the photo it reads: "Willie with his first plane 1918"

Well, after 2 and a half years I managed to get my hands on a photo. It's a nice photo, but uniform, place and plane all seem to be conspiring to give as little information as possible. Can anyone see any clues here?

Many thanks,

Stephen Benaim

[josquin]

Pte. W. Reid, service # 136920, is listed in the R.A.F. Muster Roll for April, 1918, but he is one of many whose initial date of service with the R.F.C.

is not given. Ordering a copy of his airman's service record, from AIR 79 at the National Archives, which is arranged according to service number,

is the next step to locate additional information. You also may want to look for a Royal Highlanders service record, at the National Archives or

Ancestry.com, listed under his name and his Royal Highlanders service number. Almost two-thirds of other ranks service records were destroyed

during the German bombing of London, in 1940, but perhaps his records were among those that survived. One cautionary not, however:

as a Private, it is unlikely that his service assignment entailed the regular flying of Sopwith Camels. It is more likely that he enjoyed one

or more informal flights, but the Camel was notoriously difficult for novice pilots to fly and he may have been a tad overzealous with his

recounting of this aspect of his Great War experience.

Regards

Trelawney

[Andrew Upton]

It's a nice photo, but uniform, place and plane all seem to be conspiring to give as little information as possible. Can anyone see any clues here?

Everything mentioned so far seems to have him as an OR or NCO so far. The picture suggests he became an Officer at some point - the jacket with lapels showing shirt and tie with the cross strap of a Sam Browne belt visible are generally the mark of an Officer.

[Dolphin]

It's a nice photo, but uniform, place and plane all seem to be conspiring to give as little information as possible. Can anyone see any clues here?

Stephen

As Trelawney indicates, the aeroplane is a Sopwith F.1 Camel, which was a single-seater, though there were some two-seat trainers. The black tie is certainly indicative of an RAF officer.

His service record should tell you which unit he served in, and we can soon see if it was equipped with Camels.

Regards

Gareth

[josquin]

If he WAS an officer there are three RAF officers' service records at the National Archives, in AIR 76, that are possibilities:

William - Reid, AIR 76/421 no birthdate listed

William - Reid, AIR 76/421, birthdate 22 July 1899

William - Reid, AIR 76/421, birthdate 1893

There are several other AIR 76 records for men with two forenames ("William Stuart Reid," and so on) but I listed only those

with a single forename--per the MIC listing. If he was an officer, it is odd that his MIC does not state a commissioned rank.

Trelawney

[Andrew Upton]

If he was an officer, it is odd that his MIC does not state a commissioned rank.

Not really - if he, say, returned to the UK as an OR/NCO and was only then commissioned, but then never served overseas for the remainder of the war, his Officer status wouldn't be relevant to the issue of his medals and there wouldn't be any need to have it recorded there. It might appear on the reverse though if an address was present...