My eureka moment!!

[Helen G]

I was always told as a child that my great grandfather Fred Cross had served in India in WW1 but by the time I became interested in finding out more there was no one left in the family to tell me. (I always imagined that coming from Redditch he would be in the local regiment.)

Ever since the Medal Roll Cards started to appear on Ancestry I have been trying to work out which of the 100's Fred or Frederick (he's called both on various BMD certs) Cross's was MY Fred Cross.

Then today I went to the Family History Centre in Worcester to access the Absent Voters list for 1918 only to find that I had been given the wrong info when I had phoned earlier in the week and the info I wanted was kept in the Worcester Record Office. But the staff were marvelous!! Thay rang the record office, someone looked the info up for me and.....

Fred Cross was a private in the Somerset Light Infantry no. 26852.

I have printed off his medal card but I am at a loss to understand what all the squiggles mean. I think he was awarded the British Medal and something else but apart from the year 1919 and the word India I can't read the rest.

Can anyone out there help me?
Many thanks for reading this
Helen

 

[barrie]

The squiggle at the bottom says that he received the India General Service Medal in 1919.

Barrie

 

[Helen G]

Thanks Barrie,

now you have deciphered it for me it is so obvious what it says.

Helen

 

[barrie]

Thanks Barrie,

now you have deciphered it for me it is so obvious what it says.

Helen

You are very welcome Helen, thats what we are all here for, to help one another.

Barrie.

 

[Chris_Baker]

Well done - but don't stop there, Helen! You now need to look up the two rolls (one for the IGSM and one for the BWM), both of which are at the National Archives in Kew. They will confirm his battalion(s) and possibly give some other details. Once you know his battalion(s), you can trace his movements.

A few battalions of the Somersets served in India: 2nd, 1/4th, 1/5th, 2/4th, 2/5th and 1st Garrison.

 

[Helen G]

Thanks Chris

Isn't it all exciting!!!

It my dream to work out where he was and spend the first month of my retirement (January 2010) visiting those places.
Trouble is, having done a bit more research about the Somersets this morning (Internet rules OK!) I have a nasty feeling that they were close to the Afghan border and if things don't improve there I might not be able to make it.

Helen