My grandfather fought in WW1 (joined up 3rd September1914, discharged 13th June 1918) He was missing presumed dead on The Somme. However, he was found injured and recovered from No Man's Land after about three days. He had been severely injured by shrapnel to the legs and it was thought one of them would have to be amputated, but he managed to keep it. He was discharged 100 per cent disabled, though he did walk again with a stick eventually. I have his medal card from the National Archives, and we already have his medals, papers showing his discharge and character etc. For some reason, on all of these, it simply states Rifle Brigade and his number, S/562 (S sometimes crossed to look like an 8) Rank: Rifleman. There is never a mention of a particular batallion. "France" is only information about where he was injured/received medal. I'd be interested in knowing when and where he was on The Somme and anything else about his war career (needless to say, no records left in searches online so I assume destroyed). I've tried looking up the Rifle Brigade on The Somme and found lots of batallions. Does the lack of one being mentioned have any signficance? Like, first batallion? Is there any other way of finding which he was in? If family info is right, and he was terribly injured at The Somme, it would be at that date shown, so late on. He was born in Dorset but at the time he joined up was temporarily mining in Porth, so joined up from there. I have photo of him in uniform. Any help appreciated.
Lau In the absence of any firm information as to his battalion, the Medal Rolls at Kew will provide this information, based on the entry onhis Medal Index Card. Sadly, this is NOT available online and requires a visit in person. The "S" prefix probably indicates that he was with one of the Service battalions. See here for details http://www.1914-1918.net/rb.htm Look at the dates on which those battalions arrived in France and see if any of them tally with the "Date of Entry" on the Medal Index Card, as this might help to narrow it down a little.
Lau, S/562 is an Archie Smith, I presume this is your relative. Before I go through all the casualty lists can you confirm this is your relative. Andy
Apologies for the late arrival on this thread (new member and only just seen this). If it is now/still of any use; Rifleman S/562 (as Andy rightly states above) was an 'Archie Smith', who is listed in the SWB records as having served with the 12th Bn. RB. (SWB number: 414903). This from the LLT: '12th (Service) Battalion, Rifle Brigade - Formed at Winchester in September 1914 as part of K2 and came under command of 60th Brigade in 20th (Light) Division. Moved to Blackdown, going on in February 1915 to Witley and then in April to Larkhill. 22 July 1915 : landed at Boulogne.' Regards to all, M.
