My wife's grandfather was in the Territorial Force from 1911 but At outbreak of the Great War, 5 Aug 1914 to 5 Mar 1915 he served at Home, and therefore did not qualify for the TFM although On 1 Sep 1914 he signed papers agreeing that as a territorial he could be sent on overseas service.

There were lots of family rumours of battle in which he served - all wrong as he was only in France from Mar 15 to Jan 16. The only time he might have been gassed (family rumour) was at Loos on 25 Sep 15. Interestingly on 26 Sep 15 he signed papers declining the offer of extending his service. He later joined the RNPS.

Although the TFWM is very scarce, somewhat commoner is the Imperial Service Badge which was awarded to Territorials who volunteered for overseas service. This was a pin-back badge, worn above the breast pocket. Your grandfather would have had one of these, P-N.

http://militarybadgecollection.com/w...ce%20badge.JPG

Other awards in WW2 were white feathers. My father had one and I still have the other awarded to my uncle.

My father was in the merchant navy and wearing civvies when at home on survivor's leave. My uncle was a Sgt in the ANZAC forces in Borneo. :)

The Merchant Seamen could with some justification call themselves the real forgotten heroes of WWII . I recall that in the World at War episode dealing with the Battle of the Atlantic, one of their veterans recounted of being home in a blitzed Liverpool on shore leave. He was waiting at a bus stop when a woman took the trouble to cross the road to spit in his face, remarking that at his age he should be in uniform. He was in civvies of course.
Those, like your father PN, who were survivors had a double indemnity. As soon as they abandoned their torpedoed sinking ship, their pay stopped. The remaining time spent in a lifeboat (weeks often) was at their expense and not their employer's.

Chug, quite true. After my father escaped from Java, being neither military or female they were not a priority, he landed in Oz where he alternated jobs with one of the other officers alternately sewing mail bags (blistered hands) or treading grapes (blistered feet). Once he reached the USA things improved and they were well looked after before he managed to get a passage home. I was born 9 months later.

On that World at War episode dealing with the Battle of the Atlantic there was one episode tacked on at the end which dealt with merchant seamen. In one scene there are a crowd of sailors clamouring for a ship - it might have been in Halifax NS. Suddenly, like the parting of the seas, my father entered, head and shoulders under everyone else but wearing his uniform cap. He was only 5ft 6in but there he was unmistakable. My elder daughter, aged about 7, looked up and said "that's my granddad".

I wonder if that series is available in the net or to buy?

PN:
A quick search on Google confirms that it is and that Zavvi.com are offering the complete "Ultimate Restored Collection" at £14.95 delivered. I'd put the link in but suspect that I have already overstepped PPRuNe's line in the sand. In a grovelling defence I would simply say that this series from 1973 has never been surpassed in the video coverage of WWII from beginning to end. If you haven't yet seen it, get it!

Thank you.

A friend of mine who is in his 90's and living in Canada was with Bomber Command and his wife has asked me how she may obtain a medal for him. All I can find is a website that sells them but surely they should have been given out auto to aircrew et al ?

Thanks for any gen on this.

cee, not yet I think is the answer.

Have her contact SPVA and register his name and address.

Veterans-UK

Several of the world’s militaries are going to have to start issuing more award/medals to keep up with the North Koreans.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps7714ecd2.jpg

I see the man three down lets everybody down by putting his medal on the wrong trouser leg........ must be aircrew :ooh:

Surely it's a willy-gong?

Lord knows what he did to win that!

no problem THERE in identifying SO's...

wonder if they have them on the back as well??

Bunch of Muttley's the lot of em :}

BEagle ... That's General Willy Gong to you and me :}

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/20...ltergromit.png

Perhaps North Korean tailors need to have a chat with Melvin Bombtheba$tard$ tailor ...

All done in the best possible taste ...

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dMHDBL7CNA4/0.jpg

Quote:
I wonder if that series is available in the net or to buy?
A bit late to mention this, but this version, which is also available on Blu Ray, as well as DVD, suffers from cropping issues. Better to get the 'Special Collectors Edition' on DVD, like mine, which I have had since its release in 2003.

Also worth getting is The Great War, the forerunner of the above, and set the format for it, with interviews of survivors and footage of the events. Additionally, WW1 in Colour is well worth watching, don't bother with WWII in Colour though, quite a different thing altogether.

Straying further off topic, I wonder why the BBC do not show the latter in the lead up to November 11th. There appears to be quite a sizeable number of people who have no idea about WW1, and even less interest in learning about it. Do they even teach this at school any more?

Thanks Pontius. I'll go digging :).