Military Medal WW1

[curiousgeorge1]

I wonder if anyone can tell me how i would go about finding out why the following person was awarded the Military Medal.

I know it was for non commissioned officers. I have his war cards and this extract from the London Gazette. Edition published Tuesday 16th October 1917. I know he was in France, I have the medal.

As you can see he was in the Cameron Highlanders . His first name was Thomas.A

S/14032 Pte. (L./C.) T. Shumacker, Cam..
Highrs. (Glasgow).

[Little Nell]

I'm sure someone will correct me if this is wrong, but I believe that there are no official lists of citations for the specific act of bravery which resulted in the award of the Military Medal.  The award will be listed in the London Gazette together with the date.

However, you may be able to find the action or incident for which it was awarded in the operational records (war diaries).  It would take some time before the award was listed in the Gazette so you may need to search for some months before that date.

Nell

[curiousgeorge1]

Thanks for this

[Andy J2022]

Are you aware that his service record has survived and can be found on FindMyPast (and probably also on Ancestry)? Unfortunately there is no copy of his MM citation among his documents, although there are his signed receipts for it and his other medals, the 14-15 Star, BWM and VM. As LittleNell says your best bet for finding out why he got the MM is search the Battalion war diaries. You will find them at: WO95/1941/1. Fortunately they have been photographed so once your have registered with TNA, you can download them for free.

He enlisted on 27 Oct 1914 at Glasgow. He served in C Company, 7th Battalion Cameron Highlanders. On 27 July 1918 he changed his name to Thomas Alexander McMurray.  I think the reason he did this is obvious.

[Andy J2022]

I think there's fair chance that his award of the MM would have been reported in the newspaper(s) for his home town (Glasgow?), but nothing has shown up in a newspaper search for the whole of the UK on FindMyPast for 'Scumacker' during 1916-17.

[curiousgeorge1]

Thanks for these replies. Since posting I have downloaded the diary and to my great surprise found the entry where he was recommended for the MM. Since at this point I was guessing the battalion and potential date I cannot quite believe I have found it. Now to try to make sense of what was going on with the battalion to merit such an award.

Thank you all for your interest and for taking time to reply.

I have searched in the past searched the newspapers to no avail so this is a real find.

[curiousgeorge1]

Andy J2022
I knew about the change of name, and the reason. I wonder how you know the date of his name change. I knew he was awarded the medal as Shumacker and his service record was McMurray and so had guessed the approximate date but you seem to have the exact date.

I also fell lucky guessing 7th Battalion given the service number but I wonder if you could tell me how you found that. I couldn't see it on the war record.

[Andy J2022]

As I mentioned above, his service record is on FindMyPast. This notes his change of name in a Part II order issued by his battalion (see below). There is also a reference to his next of kin, his mother, and a physical description of him from his initial medical exam.

[curiousgeorge1]

Many thanks for this. Extremely helpful.

I have his medal index card but not this information nor the one regarding his next of kin.

I have the short service attestation. Is that the one you refer to?

I don't have anything which shows his physical examination or next of kin. I presume this is under the name Shumacker as at the time of enlistment.