I know I could take this 'elsewhere' but hopefully there's enough of you WW1-ites to help out here. Were MM's Gazetted? Am I likely to be able to find a citation for one? Missus's Grandfather. No. 265931 Sergeant G. Adams, Hertfordshire Regiment. Have a page of 'Army Orders' announcing Immediate awards & a congratulation note signed by Rawlinson both for the 14th of June 1918. The main thing the family are interested in is finding the Citation or reference to how the medal was won. He survived the war and died on the eve of the second, family legend saying he was so distressed by the thought of another European war that he just gave up the ghost. Any ideas? Or is it something I'll have to try and get his records to find? Cheers, Adam.
Adam, I don't think they are gazetted, I'm pretty sure there is no citation, the local press maybe a good starting place, that may say how the medal was won - or maybe the war diary Steve
Thanks steve, Good to find that before attempting the somewhat daunting business of searching the Gazette. As a potential online resource I'm trying to pin down his medal index card from the NA (not easy with my limited skills!), but I'm guessing it still wouldn't have much more than the award on anyway. Cheers, Adam
Hi adam Here is the mention in the gazette concerning your man....not citation im afraid. Gazette Website: PDF Navigator Donnie
Aha, cross-posted. Too kind Paul, I was hoping one of you would know more. Aaargh, info overload, Donnie, you're a star too.
Ok, found him. His MM was Gazetted on 13.9.18 where he is shown as a Sgt in the Hertfordshire Regiment. This unit had only one battalion in France, the 1 1st, which served with the 39th Division up to May 1918 and then served with the 37th Division for the rest of the war. If his MM was gazetted for September, it would normally be for an action in May-June. It could also be a retrospective award for the March-April 1918 period. pdf of London Gazette entry attached.
And here are his 2 MICs The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details Donnie
The other four figure number as shown in the MIC index indicates he served overseas prior to January 1917.
The 'Army orders' we have for june 14th 1918 seems to imply close to that date as he's in there under 'Immediate awards'? They seem to have joined the 37th division on the 11th of May 1918 so that might shorten the window, something in the run up to Albert perhaps... Thanks chaps, that's a good start, I'll have a proper dig now. Cheers, Adam.
War Diary. The 1st Hertfordshire's in France 1918 >> War Diary for May 1918 Sgt Adams gets a mention.
More great stuff. Would the MIC have a specific date for the award on it If I ordered it? Or on the medal itself which can apparently be got hold of with a bit of a hunt. They seem to have been quite quiet during June but pretty active in April/May.
More great stuff. Would the MIC have a specific date for the award on it If I ordered it? I have one MIC for MM and Bar and it only has the date and reference to the Gazette entry on it. It was from the NA, who did not scan the backs and it has 'pto' on it. Probably just an address, but the MM MICs seem to have got lost. I don't think the WFA gave them to Ancestry...Will I ever see the back?
Sorry Andy, missed this - No, no further progress as a paper-hunt goes on in the family archives, there being a suspicion that they may have more in a mound of bumf... Somewhere. Cheers Geoff, We got the MIC and it gave no more info either - just looking for it now.
Having tried looking this stuff up for one of my relatives, I was led to understand that the majority of official WW1 citations for awards such as MC, MM and DCM were all lost during WW2 (probably similar fate to the service records) - so unless the citation was published in a newspaper I would imagine your search will be very long indeed.
Sorry for being nosey....Just always interested in reading citations. I assume you have tried the Great War Forum- They came up trumps for me regarding a WW1 citation. Good luck mate A
