Hi there My Father Squadron Leader E.M Greenwood (21329) RAFO was mentioned in dispatches which was published in the London Gazette on the 14th January 1944. Can anyone help by telling me how I find out why? It is all a bit of a mystery! Many thanks Jerry
Hi Jerry Welcome Not sure you are going to find too much - if you enter 'Mentioned in Dispatches' into the search box there have been quite a number of threads before on this subject. I think the consenus would be that for individual acts of gallantry, etc you could receive a VC, a GC, or such, but for someone who did a really good job over a period of time, they may well be awarded an MiD. From other threads, I dont think there is a list or book of citations for MiD as there is for other gallantry medals Check out this link for the MOD details - Medals: campaigns, descriptions and eligibility TD
Paul Cheall's WW2 Podcast just had a short episode about WW1 and apparently at that time some MiD were failed applications for the Victoria Cross because it was the only available posthumous medal. That is, if someone died in action and was put in for a VC but didn't get it, the only lesser honour they might get was a MiD. I don't know if this was also the case in WW2? I hope that wasn't the situation here. Regards, Chris
Jerry I have found that very few citations for MiDs have been retained. You may find some mention in the Operations Record Book for his squadron or airfield he was at, you may not. The London Gazette for that date was the Birthday Honours one for that year, so you will find that hundreds, if not thousands, of servicemen and women will have been listed, along with many other awards. It may of course be listed on his service records Hope the above helps a little bit Andy
if your father was attached to a unit not his home squadron you could try to search the history of the unit he was attached to it may be there. My wife's grandfather was a signaler attached to the 4th Canadian armed div and received an MID but the signal corp has no record; our only venue left is to search the unit record for the regiment he was attached to in the 4 CAD. Just a suggestion if it helps in any way. best of luck.
