what are medal cards?

[supersan]

can someone please explain what medal cards are, i have been on the national archives website and found three of my ancestors, but dont understand how you get the image or what exactly it is, i am a bit useless on the computer, help me please sandra

[Lesanne]

Hi Sandra,
       Yep, I know what you mean. I was a bit like that. 

But if you go to the N A site. Put in the name and service number and the reg etc they were in, pay ya' due's. Follow the prompts. 

You then get a print out of the medal record card. 

 There are six to a page, not all of them relevent to your person, but one of them will be.

 The cards are a bit like our old medical cards.

 Hope this helps. Lesanne. 

[supersan]

Thanks Lesanne,
I'll give it another try, sandra

[Little Nell]

The basic function of the medal cards is to act as a card index of who was awarded what medal during WWI.  Many received campaign medals, but these cards also record medals awarded for bravery e.g the Military Medal, Distinguished Conduct Medal.  Many find this a useful way to establish in which regiment their ancestor/relative served during WWI and the service number.  This apparently makes searching for their army service records very much easier.  I have not tried the second part of this yet, but it can be an eye opener as far as winning medals.

If you have already used the PCC wills online part of TNA site, then the medal cards are very similar.  As with most online databases, the index entry is a hyperlink i.e. by clicking on it, you get taken to the "pay" or "registration before you pay" area of the site.  Follow the instructions if you wish to pay to view the image.  Make sure that if you go down this route that you download and SAVE the images to the hard disk on your PC.  Then you can print them as many times as you then lose them in the pile of paper on your desk.    It can seem a bit expensive for the information that you get, but if you plan to research your army relative then finding his regiment and service number is worth an awful lot of research time. 

Nell