Grandad.. expeditionary force?

[truebritmega]

Ive just discovered.. never knew.. My grandad was in ww1 !... I'll post the bit I have thats relevant to it... what is the expeditionary force?...

It also says that there were medals.. does that mean granddad himself.. would have had this medal? and what medal is it?

Hope someone can help (all excited with this accidental discovery)

[mmm45]

Yes he was awarded two campaign medals the british war medal and victory medals.
He served in Mesopotamia ( modern day Iraq) as well as Egypt and France.
He should also have a medal index card on ancestry too


Ady

[km1971]

Expeditionary Force just means an army that served overseas. The original was the BEF - British Expeditionary Force - that sailed to France in 1914. Your GF fought in Mesopotamia in 1916 and 1917, Egypt and France in 1918.

http://www.1914-1918.net/mespot.htm

If you find his unit(s) from the list on the left you can follow his service. Other pages on his record will tell you if he served with one unit or several.

The British War Medal and Victory Medal was awarded to any man serving overseas during WW1. they were impressed with his name and rank, number and regiment as of 11 November 1918. As you appear to have Ancestry you can download a copy of your GF's.

The third WW1 medal was a Star awarded to anyone going overseas in 1914 or 1915. So it looks as if it did not apply to him.

Ken

[truebritmega]

well..... firstly.. his expeditionary force enlistment form thing... had as "distinctive marks" a "IV" on his left forearm...

Ive since seen that the field artillery used roman numberals for brigade numbers.. so Im guessing thats what his tattoo is for? (was it common to tattoo your reg like that on you?)
 and from the page you gave me there is a IV regiment.. pastes
IV Brigade
This was a unit of Britain's pre-war regular army. It is also sometimes shown as 4 Brigade RFA.

History
Comprising numbers 7, 14 and 66 Batteries, this brigade came under command of the 7th (Meerut) Division of the Indian Army.
It served with the division in France, Mesopotamia and Palestine.


I searched a lil more and found his proper.. enlistment paper as having him enlist w the royal artillery... and has his service number.. Ive since.. found his medical card... well, medical roll thing?

The card has on it... victory, british and star... besides victory it has RFA/210B and under there where it has for british.. is has " and a long dash.. so Im guessing its meaning he got that too? the column for star... is empty

where the medal card lists roll and page.. does that mean there will be more details of the medal somewhere?

And... can I get his full.. war record (and would it be likely to tell me more?)

sorry if my questions sound silly.. but I know virtually nothing bout this side of fam tree work lol

[truebritmega]

Also just noticed... i'll add a image too.. it has his rank as "DM"... what would that be? the only thing that springs to mind for me .. is Drum Major?

if not, what is it? and is that a low, med or... what kind of rank?

[Jool]

Hi, the rank is Dvr - abbreviation of Driver. 

[truebritmega]

oh is it? lol looked like a DM to me lol

[km1971]

You have his full service record.

Ken

[km1971]

... had as "distinctive marks" a "IV" on his left forearm...

Ive since seen that the field artillery used roman numberals for brigade numbers.. so Im guessing thats what his tattoo is for? (was it common to tattoo your reg like that on you?)
 and from the page you gave me there is a IV regiment.. pastes

He had the tattoo when he enlisted. He joined 4th (Army Reserve) Bde a year later, and was transferred a few weeks later.

Ken