Craig Not too much of any interest there with no movements to France - Italy etc but lots of Hospital stays with one APPARENT naughty one before Penicillin solved many of those problems - broken hand looks nasty though not unusual with bike riders - there has to be more than what you have - somewhere Cheers
Hi Craig - says he was a brave man and I see he received a DCM. Do you know what your Dad did? LG link: Viewing Page 2074 of Issue 37039
Craig/Rosy Thought there was more to this story than what was shown in the original thumbnails - so where are the other sheets of the rest of the records as the DCM was not handed out for being first in the NAAFI queue.... Cheers
Must say the pdf format is a pain for me - literally. I think I just cricked my neck reading this service record! Craig, could you post as jpgs? If not I will take screenshots of the pdf files. Noted the service in France and 18 mths in Italy and a surprisingly large medical record. Will have to look at it in more detail but it is not unusual with long service in one unit for little to appear in the service record. You just have to find out what the unit was doing during the period of service. Any clues what the DCM was for? A high decoration. Also note that despite the long and helpful list of abbreviations there is still no explaination of the 'x-list' of medical conditions which confuse many people (apart from the educated members here!).
This looks like the Documents Online link to the D.C.M: The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details Seems TNA have made an error with the first digit of his army number. The name and date of announcement are a match. CMF reference on service history too.
Just got a spare nine hours at Muscat airport and found the DCM citation on my downloads aided by Rosy's helpful link. WO 373/11 - 2 p80. I'll transcribe the full detail if no one gets to it first, or someone posts the original. The DCM was a periodical when supportive of 10th Infantry Indian Division from 27th June to 18th Sept 1944, and from 1st Oct - 28 Oct 1944 thanks
Folks, Here are the same PDFs with all contained images rotated for easier viewing. ... Hope that helps
W/Bombardier James Loughlin 320805 DCM citation dated 28th Oct 1944. Recommended by Lieut Colonel .....RA, Commanding 68th Field Regiment Royal Artillery (Originally an MM but changed to DCM). "Throughout the period 27 June to 18 Sept, and from 1st October to date, this NCO has shown exceptional powers of leadership and devotion to duty when he has been NCO i/c line laying parties for 269th Fd Battery RA. On 30th June, the Battery was in action at TORCHUAGNO in a very exposed position and was very heavily shelled. During the shelling, line communications failed and Bdr Loughlin under extremely heavy fire, repaired the line on at least two occasions. His example to others and his disregard for his own personal safety were exceptional and he succeeded in establishing communications at a most critical time. On 28 July he was in charge of a line laying party during a night attack on the ANGHIARI ridge. The line had to laid across a very open valley subject to very heavy M.G. and mortar fire, Again showing exceptional powers of leadership he led his party though this area and brought the line up to the OP. When the line was broken by shelling, he himself returned and repaired it on numerous occasions, often under heavy mortar fire. On continuation of the advance on 27th July, this NCO was again ordered to reel out the line behind the leading Coy on to their objective. By choosing the shortest route in order to save wire, he was unable to follow the Coy, but he had communications established on the objective as soon as the Coy reached it. Again he and his party were under considerable shell fire and had to take the risk of running into parties of Germans on route. Again Bdr Loughlin’s superb example of leadership and foresight enabled the line to be got through at a most critical stage. From 3rd to 8th August during Operation “Vandal”, he was in charge of a line maintenance party on M.CASTELLO. During the whole of this period, the cable route was under exceptionally heavy shell fire. One portion of the line had to be run along a ridge which was seldom free from shell fire. This particular part of the line had to be re-laid six times owing to continual breaks, but Bdr Loughlin never failed to re-establish communications in the shortest possible time. His complete disregard for his own personal safety and the way in which he lead his men through this period was of the very highest order. Finally, during the period 3rd October to 10th October in the operations which terminated in the capture of M.FARNETO, Bdr Loughlin, again in charge of a line laying party, laid and maintained the better part of a line of some 15 miles long, in the very worst conditions of rain and weather. The cable was perpetually being out by tanks and shellfire, and for a period of three consecutive nights and days he himself had no sleep and was continually out on the line. Again he kept communications through and again he led his men with superb example. The conduct of this NCO under the very worst conditions of battle has been exceptional, and his work as NCO i/c line laying parties has been absolutely vital to the course of the battle."
Thanks for transcribing that Richard - it was an interesting read. How many hours left now?! Wonder why it was changed from an MM to DCM..was that something to do with rank?
That's one of the best citation I have seen, thanks for transcribing it. And thanks for rotating the scans Craig!
Dear Craig: Just read the Colonel's citation about your Father. As an old infantry signaller I can ascribe to the great importance of his brave action in the maintenance of communication under such horrific enemy fire. I have known fellow signallers who lost their lives doing the same job and I can see their young faces right now and will always be privileged to have known and served beside them. You will be proud of your Father, as I am: that he is one of a generation of just ordinary men who were quite unexpectedly faced with situations which they responded to with great courage and bravery. Joe Brown
Craig I can only second Joe's comments as too often we had to chop miles of signal wire from our drive sprockets on the Churchill Tanks - knowing that someone had to repair the damage we caused - accidentally I might add - along with the barbed wire etc Cheers
The other thing was that I couldn't quite read the name of the CO, who authored the citation. It could be "Baxter".
Your help is very much appreciated gentlemen . I have a lot of research to do but i will enjoy doing it .Reading my dad,s citation again brought a tear to my eye .
