GREATWAR-L Archives

From: Iain Kerr <>
Subject: Re: [WW1] Alexander Sayers
Date: Wed, 03 Oct 2001 05:37:34 +0100
In-Reply-To: <71.137e5576.28ea4373@aol.com>

At 18:08 01/10/01 -0400, you wrote:
>My grandfather was awarded the Military Medal during the First World War.
>
>Does anyone know how I can find out when he was awarded this medal and where
>his heroic deed took place.
>
>After the First World he stayed on as a regular in the British Army and my
>mother was brought up in army quarters. Whilst they were stationed in
>Ireland, when she was very young, they met an Irishman who was so delighted
>to meet up again with my grandfather and told my mother that he had saved his
>life during the First World War. Apparently he had been injured and my
>grandfather had run out the trenches and pulled the man back to safety.
>
>Like most of his generation he didn't talk about the grissly side of the war,
>he only occasionally remarked on the humorous side.
>
>He retired from the regular army during the 1940's and bought a small-holding
>in Scotland. He then worked for I.C.I. and trained their territorial army.
>
>When the second world war broke out he was asked to re-join the regular army
>at his old position, Regimental Sergaent Major and, of course, he jumped at
>the chance. I do know that he was with the Royal Artillery. According to Mum
>the Army was his life and he missed it terribly. During the Second World War
>he was stationed in Woolwich Arsenal and was in his bed when it was bombed.
>His bed ended up in the rafters and he ended up in hospital in Kent. After
>that he was medically discharged, much to his disgust, because of shratnel
>embedded in his chest which affected his heart.
>
>Barbara Peachey
>Buckinghamshire
>England

Barbara,

The Military Medal was instituted on 25 Mar 1916. It was originally
intended for award to NCOs and men of the British Army, including the Royal
Flying Corps, for individual or associated acts of bravery not of
sufficient heroism to merit the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM). As such
it was the third ranking soldier's decoration for gallantry after the
Victoria Cross and the DCM - it equated to the Military Cross awarded to
commissioned officers. The medal was extended to women in Jun 1916.

It is a silver medal bearing the sovereign's head on the obverse and on the
reverse the crowned royal cypher above the inscription "FOR BRAVERY IN THE
FIELD" enclosed in a wreath. The medal is named on the rim. The ribbon
has broad dark blue edges flanking a central section of three narrow white
and two narrow crimson vertical stripes.

During WWI the numbers issued were: 115,577 Military Medals; 5,796 first
bars (for a soldier who was awarded the MM a second time); 180 second bars
and one third bar.

Honours and gallantry awards are published in the Supplement to The London
Gazette (the official newspaper of the UK Government). The London Gazette
still is the source of the extracts published today in The Times and The
Daily Telegraph, here in UK. Archived copies of the London Gazette may be
found in major reference libraries in the UK including the PRO, the
Guildhall Library, London and the Newspaper Library (part of the British
Library). The London Gazette Indexes for the Great War years are on open
shelves at the Public Record Office, Kew. If you are very lucky, the
index entry will take you to a lengthy citation; if you're not, it will
simply take you to a list of names.

In the main however, gallantry awards such as the Military medal were
merely listed, in The London Gazette with no citation.

You should be able to get the basic details from the World War I Medal
Rolls at the PRO, Kew.

If the serviceman or woman survived World War I and served long enough
overseas to qualify for campaign medals, then they should be found in the
Medal Rolls held at the PRO Kew. The rolls record service (campaign) medal
and honours and awards; the lists are kept in class WO 329. These rolls
however give little or no personal information being confined to the unit,
service number, theatres of war in which the individual served, and the
medals awarded. Those who served in France and Flanders between 5 Aug and
22 Nov 1914 received the 1914 Star (the "Old Contemptibles" medal). Those
who served in any war zones between 5 Aug 1914 and 31 Dec 1915 were awarded
the 1914-15 Star. All British and imperial servicemen and women who served
outside the UK between 1914 and 1920 were given the British War Medal and
British forces over the same period also received the Victory Medal. [The
three medals 1914 or 1914/15 Star, the War Medal and the Victory Medal
became known as "Pip, Squeak and Wilfred" to old soldiers.]

Before searching the Medal Rolls in WO 329, you should check the Medal
Index Cards in WO 372. These are held on microfiche in the Microfilm
Reading Room. It is arranged alphabetically and in regimental order of
precedence. The alphabetic listing is slightly odd in that it lists those
with one initial first, then one Christian name and then two initials, two
Christian names and so on. The card when found will provide Surname,
Christian Name or initial, other Christian names or initials, rank,
regiment, regimental number and the medals to which the individual was
entitled and usually the Army Medal Office reference. To find the actual
entry on the Medal Rolls, the Medal Office Reference must be transformed
into the WO 329 reference using a key found in WO 329/1.


As to his later service records, you are in the hands of the Ministry of
Defence, whose reputation for retaining archives of personnel records is
not high!

The surviving records of all officers and soldiers who joined the British
Army and who were discharged after 1922 are stored in the Ministry of
Defence Record Office CS(R)2b at Bourne Avenue, Hayes, Middlesex. This
includes territorial, volunteer, militia and home-defence forces, the
women's corps and some colonial forces. The MOD Record Office also held the
WWI records that have been progressively released to the Public Record
Office over the past six years.

You should note that there is some risk that the official archives of the
British Army personnel records between 1922 and 1940 are incomplete. This
is because up to half of the original pre-World War II British Army
soldier's personal records were destroyed or badly damaged following a
World War II German fire-bombing raid on the War Office documents
repository at Hayes in 1940. Those that survived are often in a poor
condition having been damaged by both fire and water.

Information on the service records of an individual serviceman or woman may
be obtained by application to: Ministry of Defence Records Office CS(R)2,
Bourne Avenue, Hayes, Middlesex UB3 1RF, United Kingdom. {Telephone ++44
(0) 208 573 3831}. They will send you an application form that will
require a search fee of £25 per person being enquired after. Payment of the
search fee does not guarantee a successful result. The MOD now requires
applicants to certify that they are the individual concerned or their next
of kin, together with a copy of the death certificate, as appropriate. The
form asks for details of the other kin between the enquirer and the
subject. This recent preoccupation seems to have arisen out of concerns
caused by the Data Protection Act 1999, required by European Union
legislation. There is reportedly a long delay in getting the response, the
result will now be a statement of service and not copies of the original
documents.
Yours aye,

Iain Kerr in Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom
Web Page at: http://home.clara.net/iainkerr/index.htm
RootsWeb Sponsor and Listowner for the WORLDWAR2 Mailing List.

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