BAFFLED!!!

[Dave Hall]

Although I have the army records for my Granfather.
I cannot make head nor tail of them.
This is what I have gleaned
SYDNEY HALL No 18877
Joined 7/12/17 Halifax West Riding Regiment.
Joined 52 Brigade/17 Div.
I am trying to find out what battle, and where he was wounded.
He was wounded in left arm 5/8/16
Would this be in Flanders?
On one sheet it also mentions a "Blue Chevron", could you tell me if this means anything?
Any help would be great, to pad out the history.
Thanks
Dave

[CaroleW]

Hi

Was his address 13 Mexborough Rd?  If so - Ancestry have him indexed twice - one with 22 images and again with 9 images

You perhaps need to download all the images

[kyt]

A Blue Chevron was worn for a year’s service overseas, another added for each year.

Could you check your dates - joined 7/12/17 but wounded 5/8/16?

K

[km1971]

A blue chevron was an overseas service chevron. It was a short inverted stripe worn above the right cuff. If a man served in 1914 it was red. For 1915, 16, 17 and 18 they were blue. They were not introduced until 1918

There will to two tables in his record you need to look at. The first will say where he was . It will start and finish with Home. Between will be the theatre he was in. The other covers which battalion he was in; the rank held etc. You can trace where he was from the battalion.

His MIC says he was discharged to the Class Z Reserve in 1919. He would have received 6d a day to keep himself available should fighting start again.

Can you correct the dates? He was wounded before joining!

Ken

[millymcb]

Here's a link to the records on Ancestry...which I believe are free to view for all of November (so get in quick if you have any to find!)

http://www.rootschat.com/links/04r5/
 
The dates are bit confusing as he seems to have transferred about.... it looks like (to me with my untrained eye) that he attested or enlisted 5 dec 1915 and  spent time in the UK before going to france 19/5/16 where he was wounded in his arm on 3/8/16 ...then sent back to hospital in UK 10/8/16 - Northern General (not clear which one exactly) and then something called ??Grange until 15/9/16...  The next bit is a bit harder to fathom and needs an expert to have a closer look but it could be he then was attached to a Territorial Battalion 26/9/1916.. and then sent out to field again 20/12/1917...and  it was 11/7/1918 he got his overseas service chevron.... and he was finally demobbed in 1919. 

But there is a lot of scribble and lots of numbers that our military gurus will be able to make more sense of than me when they take a look.

(He was a also a bit naughty ..going awol for 1h16mins at one point)


Milly
 

[Dave Hall]

Sorry about the date Carole
Joined 7/12/15
Mexborough Rd is also correct.
I have got the images from Ancestry, but as I say they might a well be in Latin, as I cannot work them out.
And yes I did notice he had gone AWOL !! naughty boy!!
Thanks for the info so far
Dave

[millymcb]

While you wait for the gurus.... have you looked at the Regimental Website
http://www.dwr.org.uk/dwr.php?id=111

They seem to have a pretty good archive and once you get all the details of exact dates and battalions you could perhaps e-mail them and see if they have the war diaries for the dates....


In particular the injury date of 3rd of July 1916 is only a few days into the Battle of the Somme so it is POSSIBLE he was there. The website suggests that some of the regiment were involved but obviously it depends on what battalions etc.....

MODIFIED ... Oops sorry I can't count - that's august not july so about a month after start of Battle of the Somme)



Milly

[mmm45]

Looks like he spent some time at least with 2/4th West Ridings which was part of 62nd Div
He also was wounded GSW (Gunshot wound) Left eye and was sent to Northern General Hospital Leeds.
He was late for tattoo which was a parade in army terms and got 5 days CB(CONFINED TO BARRACKS)
Will have another look later and see what else i can decypher.
I think priority is to find his date of wounding then find which Battalion of West Ridings Regiment he was with..From then you can get the War Diary for the battalion and it will tell you what they were up to.

Ady

[Dave Hall]

Hi Ady,
He was wounded 5/8/16
I was trying to find out where he was fighting
Dave