Greetings - looking for info about grand dad's medal.

hello everybody

I found this forum by chance and I'm glad I did, I've always had an interest in WW2 and this is a really great site.

I'm from Johannesburg, South Africa, but my parents are from Portsmouth UK originally.

My Grandfathers both fought in the war and I have a medal belonging to my mother's father (he was a navy man). He left it to the first born grandson, which happened to be me.

Unfortunately I never met him since i grew up in SA and he died when I was young, but the medal bears an inscription that reads something to the effect of: "presented by the President of the United States of America for rescuing 1500 American soldiers from a burning ammunition ship."

I don't remember the exact wording of the inscription because the medal has been in a safe deposit box for many years. I don't even know what kind of medal it is.

I'd like to find out more about the medal and the incident and his service during the war and this site looks like a great place to start.

Looking forward to chatting with you folks in the near future.

Take care

Steve

 

Welcome and enjoy.!!!

 

Hello Steve and welcome.

 

Welcome to the forum Steve - enjoy!

Best,

Steve.

 

Welcome. Yes it is a great site! Enjoy

Lesley

 

Hello Steve,

Welcome to the forum.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

welcome to the forum

if you could please post a photo

 

Welcome to the forum


Cheers
Paul

 

Hi Steve. Welcome.

In the absence of getting access to the Safety Deposit Box could you tell us what your Grandfather's name was?

 

Hi Steve and welcome. I don't suppose you have your Grandfather's service record? That would be a great help in solving this interesting question.

Mike

 

Hi guys. Thanks for the warm welcome.

Finding this site reminded me about the medal and inspired me to learn more about my grandfather. As I mentioned, i never knew him and my mother never speaks about him, although they were very close - he died over 30 years ago. I'm afraid I don't even know his first name, although his surname was Williams.

I'm going to get the medal out of storage and take a picture of it as well as find out as much as i can from my mum about his service record. (She is in Alaska right now, so it may have to wait a little bit). One thing I do know is that he was stationed aboard the HMS Hood for a while, but thankfully was transferred off it before it was sunk or I wouldn't be typing this right now.

Thanks again for the welcome - I'll post a profile pic of myself a little later.


Take care,


Steve

 

Hi Steve, welcome to the forum.

Regards,

Nipper.

 

Ok, I have my Grandfather's name and rank:

Reginald Albert Williams
Royal Navy Warrant Officer
HMS Hood

If someone could point me in the right direction, it would be appreciated. Where would be the best place to find his naval record or record of decorations?

 

Interesting. Couldn't find him in the National Archives officers records, but (I think) found him listed as a seaman:


Name Williams, Reginald Albert Official Number: J29569 Place of Birth: Portsmouth, Hampshire Date 17 September 1898 Catalogue reference ADM 188/706 Dept Records of the Admiralty, Naval Forces, Royal Marines, Coastguard, and related bodies Series Admiralty: Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's Services


EDIT: on closer inspection, its not clear that the date of 17 Spetember 1898 is a date of birth - it could be the date of entry - which would make it too early to be him. Not having much joy with the national archives TBF.

 

Steve,

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Regards
Tom

 

For those who are interested, a while back I posted a thread about my grandfather's medal, which was left to me. I've since found out a bit more about it and taken a picture.

I've posted this in the barracks because it turns out this medal is pre-ww2. It was actually awarded in 1920.

This is a Gold Presidential Lifesaving Medal. It's actually made of solid gold and worth around £2500 - £3000 (not for sale obviously).

On the front it reads:
Presented by the President of the United States. (‘E. Plurs. Unum’ on the brooch bar)

On the back:
Reginald Albert Williams, Seaman, H.M.S. Calcutta, In Recognition of His Heroic Services to the Master and Crew of the American Steamship Balabac at the Time of the Burning of that Vessel on March 6 1920’.

I think it's pretty cool.

 

Steve, I agree that is pretty 'cool' to say the least!
Have you found out anything about the event?
Mike