verification of war medals

[Terry Gibb]

How can I connect relatives to the war medal registry unless I can find out the relatives enlistment number/regiment etc.? Conversely, how can I find their enlistment number and regiment?

Thanks

Terry

[grumpy]

Which war are we talking about Terry? WW1 or 2? First world war medals have the recipients name and regimental number stamped around the rim, second world war medals

do not.

[Terry Gibb]

I don't have a medal, I'm asking if there's a site to go to for a list of anyone who got one. WW1 is main focus but WW2 will be of interest.

Terry

[tms11]

Ancestry have a list 'British Army WW1 Medals Rolls Index Cards 1914-1920'. Hope this helps.

Ian

[JBee]

As many Army records didn't survive I'm not sure the Medal Rolls are complete.

[JudithM]

As many Army records didn't survive I'm not sure the Medal Rolls are complete.

I think the medal rolls were kept separate from the WW1 service records which were damaged/duestroyed. The problem is more that, if you don't know your relatives service number and his records are amongst those which didn't survive it is extremely difficult to know if a medal roll index card is your man's or just someone with the same name. If your man married or had children while serving you may get lucky and find his regiment and service number recorded on the marriage or birth certificate.

[Caroline]

I don't have a medal, I'm asking if there's a site to go to for a list of anyone who got one. WW1 is main focus but WW2 will be of interest.

Terry

This site https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/ used the medal rolls to seed the data for the individuals, so would be a good place to start searching. They have added many other data sets since through findmypast's military collection and Ancestry also has extensive military collections. Using all of this, you can often, but not always, work out which person is which and get their numbers and other information from that. Sometimes they will have received a pension, sometimes they will be listed in the lists of effects, sometimes their personnel records will not have survived.

Have you looked in our Reference Library? Our military and maritime history pages have a wealth of links to resources which describe wars throughout history and information on how to obtain records of service:Military and Maritime History

This page, written by Ann Swabey for us, will be of particular help: FTF Guide: Military Research A detailed overview of where to look for records.

[annswabey]

My guide on Military Research must be very out of date - a lot more material has appeared online since I wrote it!

[Caroline]

My guide on Military Research must be very out of date - a lot more material has appeared online since I wrote it!

That did cross my mind as I posted the link and I wondered whether to ask you very nicely .....!!

(I am sorry, I spelled your name wrong, now repaired - I should know better as my middle name is Anne and I get very cross if I am called Carolyn. )

[grumpy]

The medal index card (MIC) is as complete as can be. It is the service documents that suffered, only about 25-35 percent survived fire after the repository was set alight during the blitz. I was lucky, three out of seven relatives papers made it, though one g/fathers were partially burnt.

[Terry Gibb]

Thanks all - I'll do some digging as suggested.

Terry