grandfather no very little about his ww1

[jenny53]

good evening .
I know very little about his war ..only been told he was a plate layer..Royal Engineers 56883
his name is Joseph F Peters ..   not sure how to find out about his life
many thank for any help

[mckha489]

It would seem his ww1 attestation record is one of those that has been lost.  I’m not a military expert by any means but there is a medal card on Ancestry that gives the date he went to France.
So you could look at the regimental diaries to see what happened after that date. 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-army-war-diaries-1914-1922/

I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a number of books written on the REs too.

I expect others will have other suggestions.

Modified to add...I have just realised these diaries are on Ancestry but you need to know which division of the RoyL Engineers he was in. I don’t know how to find that. Sorry

[whiteout7]

Link to his medal card at British Archives

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_fn=Joseph&_ln=Peters&_no=56883&_crp=&_ttl=&discoveryCustomSearch=true&_cr1=WO+372&_dt=M&_col=200&_hb=tna

He was an acting corporal at the time this service medal was filed

[whiteout7]

What I found out about my WW1 soldier was his date of birth, his marriage certificate (he married during the war with soldiers at witnesses), mentions of him in dispatches in Newspapers and I brought the medal cards for 3 pound 50 from the British Archives.

The Medal card mentioned his first theatre of War (Ypers plus the date he arrived) and the medals he was awarded, it also had the dates of promotion on it.

This chat board is also great at finding information for you
https://www.greatwarforum.org/

This is a good place to read about the Royal engineers
https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-corps-of-royal-engineers-in-the-first-world-war/

[MaxD]

You are in luck.  His service record, including his attestation has survived.
He joined in November 1914 having already served over 3 years in the Special Reserve**.  He was posted on 28 November 1914 to 108 Field Company Royal Engineers, going to France on 21 September 1915. He also served in Salonika and in a Mining Company, he was discharged in early 1919.  His record is complicated and needs a slow time look to sort out the wheres and whens.

His rank on discharge was Acting Second Corporal (a rank unique to the Royal Engineers).


More later.

MaxD

** Information on the Special Reserve is here: https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/enlisting-into-the-army/british-army-reserves-and-reservists/

[MaxD]

Attached is a summary of his service.  You will see he spent most of his service in Macedonia on what is also called the Salonika campaign.  There are unit diaries covering most of his time but only the Sep/Oct 1915 period in France has been digitised.  If you wish you can download that from the National Archives at http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7353410 although there are only 8 pages of detail and their activities were confined to building and mending things.  The diaries covering the company in Salonika would cost to have copied.

That said, the RE Museum Archive has a summary of 108 Field Company covering Dec 1914 to Sep 1917 and a diary for the Mining Company in Salonika Jul 1918-Jan 1919.  I would suggest getting in touch with them http://www.re-museum.co.uk/ to see how you might go about getting these.
The diaries won't cover his whole service.

You'll need to do some Googling and reading to find out more about the Salonika campaign, it has been called the forgotten campaign as the spotlight falls on the Western Front most of the time.


MaxD