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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: mallow on Monday 11 July 11 20:53 BST (UK)
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(Hello) can you tell me please if all soldiers of the 1st World War had their names on the rim of their medals or was it just officers I have medal with just name no more information
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hi mallow,
all ranks were entitled to a medal of some sort although it appears that officers had to apply for theirs!
if the medal shows king george V on the front is is the war medal and usually engraved on the edge was name, rank, unit and service number.
6.5 million such medals were issued which gives an indication of the commitment to that awful war.
caveat emptor as the roman's said, there are a lot of fakes out there so if you bought one you should google the various websites to check authenticity.
tony
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(Hello) can you tell me please if all soldiers of the 1st World War had their names on the rim of their medals or was it just officers I have medal with just name no more information
All soldiers had their names, number, rank and unit around the rim of the medal.
But perhaps this particular person wasn't a soldier, several other possibilites. Can you give us the name?
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Thank you for reply on the medal I have there is only name (Michael Tyrrell) no other information I dont know why?
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http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=8545468&queryType=1&resultcount=3
Could be this guy from Arklow in the Merchantile Marine?
Their medals didnt have numbers just name?
Ady :)
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Thanks Andy always thought Michael Tyrrell was a soldier? will have to research the navy now
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Hi
Perhaps a description, or better still a picture, of the medal and any ribbon would help.
The Mercantile Marine medal was bronze with the wording 'For War Service, Mercantile Marine, 1914-1918' under an image of steamer in rough seas.
Martin
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Other ranks had their units impressed on all their WW1 medals (1914 or 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal). However, for some reason unknown to me, army officers only had their unit included with their name on the stars. Their British War Medals and Victory Medals had only their rank and name. This can make researching WW1 medals to officers with a common name difficult as there would have been multiple issues to, for example, Lieut. J. Wilson or Capt. W. Smith.
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Thank you Martin my medal is definitely not Mercantile Marine it is 1914-1918 Silver medal of King George on one side and man on horse on the other it has no ribbon( must have got lost) and as I said only name" no rank or number"
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What you describe is the British War Medal. I'm afraid this is outside my normal collecting area, so I will leave it to others to offer further advice.
Martin
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Can only see one guy on RNR medal Rolls to that name he was awarded a British War Medal maybe he was Mercantile Marine who served under RN Terms ? Is the Arklow man a possibility?
Are there any signs that the rank or number has been removed? or worn away?
Ady
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Having now done a little further research I'm inclined to agree with Ady that this medal was awarded to a Merchant Seaman. If you are satisfied that the man found by Ady is your man you could order a photograph of him from the following site:
http://www.irishmariners.ie/searchdatabase.php?srch_surname=Tyrrell&srch_forename=Michael&srch_identityno=&submit=Search
Martin
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Just to add to this Merchantile Marine members were awarded the British War Medal and the Mechantile Marine Medal for 1 or more transits through a war zone.
Martin thanks for that link an excellent database :)
Ady
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Thank you very much Martin and Ady for that information, and yes what a "great site "I have e-mailed them for more information and hopefully a photograph, will let you know how i get on :)