James Turner

[millymcb]

Perhaps it was on the side - let us know when you next see it.

The medal card shows he should have had all three of the WW1 medals and that he started as a private but finished as A/Sgt (presumably Acting Sergeant)

Plus - in addition to all three of the WW1 medals he also got a Silver War Badge which means he was injured or sick in some way. It also says DISCH which presumably means discharged. The SWB was a roundsilver lapelbadge (approx 1.5" diameter) they could wear on civilian clothes so people knew they had served (and therefore did not think they were avoiding doing their bit)   

Looking up that SWB number gives the following info

S1/4278 A/Sgt James Turner RASC
Badge Number B52107
Enlisted 27/3/14
Discharged 28/11/18
Due to sickness
Age on discharge 39-3
Served overseas - Yes

Entry certified as correct -  Woolwich Dockyard 7 dec 1918

Milly

[dsjturner]

Wow thanks for that Milly! How interesting!! How did you find out all of that? I'm interested to find out about his military career as well as my two grandfathers! I have their medals too but one grandad has 11.......(think he may have bought some!!!!) I'm off to my parents today to get the medals so i'll see what they say!
I'm also thinking of paying a visit to Kew but not sure if it'll help??!
Daniel

[dsjturner]

Here's the reverse of the medal! 

[millymcb]

Ah - yes - that one is his 14 or 15/15 Star (I can't remember which he had) and it does have the number on the back I forgot about that. The other two are round and have the name on the rim. Did you find them?

The details I gave you are from the Silver War Badge records which are held at Kew and also are on Ancestry.

I wonder what the 11 medals were.  He may have accumulated them but they could be his - perhaps he was a career soldier and in the army before the first war (boer warperhaps?) and perhaps he stayed in afterwards. There could be other things like sporting medals etc too.

I can't see James' service records or pension records unfortunately. Ancestry have digitised the ones held at ew but there is always a very slim chance they missed them.

When you go - you could take the numbers for his medals off the medal card (the code numbers on the left of the card after each medal. These are the medal roll numbers.  At Kew you can look them up - they may have a few more details of dates and places.

Also - you could have a look and see if you can find anything from the War diaries for James in the 7th Field Bakery.  I doubt there will be anything but worth a try.


If the grandad with 11 medals did serve before the war you could also see what you can find for him. (Although you could just do this on Find My Past of course)

Milly

[dsjturner]

Thank you very much for your help Milly!!
I have been looking at Kew and I am definitely going to go and see what I can find! It's only 25 minutes drive so I have no excuse really!!
Unfortunately that's the only medal I have for him, although in the little pouch it's in was also 'the kings medal' awarded by London county council. I can't imagine it's his though as he would have gone to school in Scotland! His wife was from the midlands so I'm puzzled to who It was awarded to! My dad is the only person I know who went to school in London, but that was in the 60's and he certainly wouldn't have won a medal for attendance!!!
The grandad with the 11 medals was actually James' son and served in wwII.  He was in the Navy and was a right character therefore I am dubious as to whether they are all his. There is a band type thing though with the colours of ribbons on though so maybe they are the ones he was awarded and knowing him he probably bought the other ones! I'll attach a picture to show what I mean!!! Thank you once again for all of your help!

[dsjturner]

The 'band' is bottom right! 

[millymcb]

Each medal has a different colour ribbon. the "band" is a medal ribbon which just has the ribbons on it. You match the different medals to each of the different ribbons to see what they are.

I'll get an expert to pop over and identify them for you

Milly

[crimea1854]

Hi

The 'band' is a ribbon bar, and was worn on the dress uniform without the actual medals. There are two rosettes present, these indicate that those medals also have 'clasps'. The small gilt bar with 'France and Germany' on it is one such clasp. The campaigns for which each of these medals is awarded is embossed on the actual medal i.e. African Star, Italy Star etc.

While not an expert on WW2 medals I thought that the only clasp awarded for the 1939-45 Star was 'Battle of Britain', so to be awarded to someone in the RN is unlikely, but I'm quite happy to be corrected.

Martin

[dsjturner]

Hi!
Thank you very much for that it's very interesting! After I took the photo I found the other clasp which states Burma!
To be honest I was given them by my grandmother and she never told me what they were apart from saying they were my grandads. Maybe he collected them? He was very much into his military history so that does seem logical!! He died when i was quite young so he never really told me anything apart from saying he was in the navy! Thinking of it i've never actually asked my dad, his son, so maybe i should do that!! Once I've found out about James I think I'm going to find out about my grandads career!
Daniel